Thousands of workers being made redundant at Britain’s biggest steelworks will receive at least £20,000 under government intervention to reduce the fallout from the closure of its blast furnaces.
As many as 2,800 jobs are to be lost, despite the previous government issuing £500m of funding. In return, the company would invest £750m.
Labour, which had expressed hope in opposition to reduce the number of redundancies, confirmed its intervention in government had failed to secure a rethink on the company’s plans.
The last blast furnace currently used to produce steel is being closed and an electric arc furnace, which requires less labour, will be built to replace it.
The Tata Steel site in Port Talbot is the UK’s single biggest source of CO2 emissions and its closure will reduce the UK’s overall CO2 emissions by around 1.5%.
It is understood most job losses will have happened by Christmas, with the remaining redundancies taking place by March 2025.
What is the government and Tata doing?
The government said on Wednesday that it had managed to secure better terms for the workforce affected and on future guarantees.
A training programme for laid off staff will be offered and funded by Tata. While on the scheme people will be on full pay for the first month and £27,000 for the following 11 months.
No funding beyond the original £500m will be advanced by the government and financial penalties will be applied should Tata renege on the agreement and funding can be clawed back, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said
The company committed to retaining 5,000 jobs across its UK business – 500 staff will…
