Up to 40 jobs are under threat at a North Yorkshire scampi producer which says increasing costs and falling sales are putting pressure on its business.
Whitby Seafoods supplies retailers such as Sainsbury's, Tesco and Farmfoods with frozen scampi products which are made at its facility in the town, where 188 people are employed. The firm said increasing costs across its operations, including inflation in quayside prices, and a fall in sales volumes, meant it had sought ways to reduce costs.
It said that "regrettably", production and office jobs in Whitby are risk and that a consultation would stretch over the coming weeks. Whitby Seafoods managing director Daniel Whittle said: "Our excellent and hard-working colleagues are the backbone of our business, and we are sad that the challenging external environment has left us with no choice other than to take this step.”
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The move comes little over a month after Sir Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, warned that jobs at the firm could come under threat thanks to changes made earlier this year to the visa requirements that require a written English test. In April, Mr Goodwill said that mainly Filipino fisherman land the langoustines used by Whitby Seafoods, and invited ministers to visit the firm's Kilkeel base in Northern Ireland where that takes place.
He said: "I am not crying wolf when I say that this is really putting the scampi industry at risk. Whitby Seafoods has substantial investment in Whitby, as well as in Kilkeel, near the constituency of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). Those 500 jobs would be at risk without the supply of scampi.
"That can be done only using crew who are, in the main, from the Philippines. I hope that this Minister or the Immigration Minister will join me in Kilkeel to see how the crew of Filipinos work together as a team, conversing in their own language. On safety, we need to come up with a solution to the language situation so that we can keep that fish coming in, keep those jobs onshore, and keep Whitby scampi on our pub restaurant menus."
Last month, following a parliamentary debate, the Home Office announced some relaxation of the rules. It pledged that fishing jobs already eligible for sponsorship would be added to the shortage occupation list from the summer meaning lower visa fees and the right to sponsor workers at a minimum salary of £20,960 rather than the £26,200 currently required.
In its most recent set of accounts filed at Companies House, Whitby Seafoods Limited posted turnover of £59.2m and operating profit of £4.8m in 2021. Within those accounts the firm pointed to food inflation, cost of living pressures, energy costs and uncertain economic conditions are posing potential challenges and opportunities.
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