Very sadly the most recent victim of the current financial downturn is Fleetwood Caravans who, until yesterday, operated from Hall Street, Long Melford. It is understood that some 60 people will probably lose their jobs, some of whom have worked for the company for many years.
Babergh can take some action to alleviate the situation for employees in cases such as this. The Council is part of the Suffolk Redundancy Network (SRN), an East of England Development Agency-funded partnership which includes local councils, Jobcentre Plus, enterprise agencies and local training providers. SRN provides support to individual being made redundant.
Despite the fact that Babergh met with the Managing Director of Fleetwood before Christmas there was no indication that the situation was as dire as it clearly was, and no contact was made with the Council ahead of yesterday’s announcement that the company was going into administration. This means that it is now probably impossible to hold large meetings of Fleetwood’s workforce to explain what help is available. Nonetheless the administrators will be contacted in due course to see what can be arranged.
If your business is struggling don’t leave it until it is almost too late to contact Babergh for help for those threatened with redundancy. You can either call Colin Spence or myself , who will pass your concerns on in complete confidence, or call Sue Dawes, Economic Development Technical Officer, on (01473) 825868 or sue.dawes@babergh.gov.uk. Further information is available on Babergh’s website.
As the experience of Fleetwood Caravans unfortunately demonstrates, early contact is vital in these cases to ensure maximum support can be offered to any workers laid-off.
