A firm awarded millions in government contracts despite warnings about its owner’s credentials has gone bust – leaving hundreds of staff out of work just weeks before Christmas. Go-centric – run by sports car-driving David Harper – folded last Thursday, leaving 600 call centre employees facing an uncertain future.
It’s the third firm associated with the 42-year-old which has collapsed after being given public contracts. Glasgow-based Go-centric was given almost £10million from the Scottish Government to manage the Test and Protect contact tracing service during the pandemic but furloughed staff almost immediately after taking on the work.
And in August this year the UK Government granted it a £1.4million contract to run the Warm Home Discount Scheme, which it was still working on when it stopped trading last week. The taxpayers’ cash was handed over despite the record of two firms linked to Go-centric chairman Harper.
Talent Training, of which he was a company member, went bust in 2017 after claiming millions in government funding for apprenticeships. Another firm linked to Harper then took on some of Talent Training’s work before it closed in 2018 after being stripped of public contracts in England.
A spokeswoman for Go-centric said 250 of the 600 staff had been able to find work in other firms and claimed the company was actively looking for alternative work for the remaining staff.
She said: “With deep sadness, Go-centric has ceased trading and our full focus now is to support every worker. We are in discussions with our customers to save as many jobs as possible, with more than 250 safeguarded so far and conversations are continuing over the weekend. We have put in place support measures for our colleagues at this very difficult time, including recruitment and mental health advice.”
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), which contracted Go-centric during the pandemic, confirmed it had completed its work and was no longer supplying the NHS in Scotland.
Martin Morrison, director of NHS Scotland’s National Contact Centre, said: “We are sorry that Go-centric has entered liquidation and are concerned for those losing their jobs just weeks before Christmas. There is, however, no impact on our National Contact Centre’s ability to deliver services and support our national vaccination programmes. Our current level of service and demand does not depend on Go-centric staff.”
Harper is reported to have owned a range of lavish cars including a McLaren and Range Rover. He ran Go-centric from an office in Glasgow’s city centre, where workers were paid just £8.91 an hour.
Last year, a whistleblower contacted the Scottish Government to warn about Go-centric’s operating methods on the test and protect work. The claims were dismissed by the firm as “unfair” and “inaccurate”.
Opposition parties called for an investigation into why the firm had been given lucrative government work when there had been questions over its chairman’s business practices.
In 2017, Talent Training, run by Harper, had its contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) terminated after an undercover journalist exposed that one employee had offered banned financial incentives to a potential client. Harper said at the time he was “shocked” to find out this had happened.
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