The Department for Transport knew of P&O’s plans to axe 800 employees the day before it was announced, No10 has revealed.
Despite previously claiming to be unaware of plans to sack staff, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson confirmed some officials had been informed by P&O, a day before it was announced on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said officials are investigating whether P&O Ferries broke the law, while describing the firm’s behaviour as “extreme”.
“We expect companies to treat their employees fairly. It is only in extreme circumstances that employers need to make extreme decisions to secure the future of their businesses if all other avenues have failed, including negotiations between employer and employees.
“We don’t believe this was the case for P&O staff,” he said, adding: “We are looking into this very carefully.”
Announcing the decision to staff, chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite informed affected staff the move to axe 800 employees will “secure the future of our business and set it up for growth”.
P&O said early on Friday it would not be able to operate services “for the next few days” from Dover to Calais, Hull to Rotterdam, Liverpool to Dublin, and Cairnryan, Scotland, to Larne, Northern Ireland. A spokesperson for P&O said “all affected crew who worked yesterday were notified face-to-face” and apologised for the shock it may have caused.
