‘Huge blow’ for dozens of Jaguar Land Rover workers as Halewood jobs come to an end

Company says it is working to provide support and relocation opportunities after contracts come to an end

Dozens of jobs ending at Jaguar Land Rover’s Merseyside plant has been described as a “huge blow”. The ECHO can reveal that as many as 30 production workers at the car giant’s major factory in Halewood have gone.

The workers involved were on fixed term contracts at the Knowsley site, and it is understood they were told last week that they would not be given full-time roles with the company and would effectively be let go unless they relocated to another of the company’s sites in the Midlands.

A spokesperson for JLR: “A small number of Fixed Term Contract roles at Halewood will come to an end, as planned. We are working closely with our trade union partners to offer transitional support including recruitment opportunities at other JLR sites.”

But Unite the union, which represents Halewood production workers, said the news would have a huge impact on those affected.

Unite national officer for automotive, Des Quinn said: “The job losses are a huge blow for the impacted workers. Unite is working with the company to provide maximum support for them at this difficult time, including finding alternative roles at other JLR sites where possible.”

It has been a difficult financial year for JLR, who experienced a huge cyber attack last autumn.

The ECHO was the first to report that the car manufacturer had sent staff home and halted production after being hit by the attack on September 1.

Production would not return fully for the company until a phased restart began on October 8, and the major incident would be found to have a big impact on the firm’s economic performance.

Announcing its Quarter 3 results in February, the global company said its revenue stood at £4.5bn for the quarter, down 39% year-on-year and £16bn for the year to date, which was down 24% year on year.

JLR bosses said the figures came after its volumes were impacted following the cyber incident and the time taken thereafter to distribute vehicles globally, as vehicle production returned to normal levels by mid-November.