22.01.18
Ex-Carillion employees working on NR projects will be paid until at least April
Network Rail bosses have today confirmed that former Carillion employees working on railway projects will be paid until at least April of this year.
The news follows the announcement that the construction giant – one of NR’s major contractors and a major partner to the HS2 infrastructure project – has gone into liquidation and will no longer be able to follow-through on its commitments.
This has caused problems for the infrastructure manager because Carillion was heavily involved in some major construction work, however the continued employment of the former company’s staff may smooth the transition of the effected projects.
The Official Receiver’s special managers, PwC, have come to an agreement with NR which ensures that they can pay employees’ wages for work done on and supporting NR projects until after Easter.
They have also made arrangements to ensure rail employees are paid as normal in January for work done in January, while the confusion as to Carillion’s status was ongoing.
In a statement, NR said: “Carillion Construction employees working on and supporting Network Rail projects are encouraged to turn up for work as normal and continue to deliver their rail work and projects, secure in the knowledge that they will be paid by PwC for the work they do.
“In addition, funding has been secured to ensure that any suppliers to Carillion will be paid by PwC in respect of work relating to Network Rail projects since Monday (15/01/18) and going forward.”
Together the two groups say they will be working to evaluate the full costs of the work done by Carillion up to liquidation, to provide clarity to suppliers, as well as collaborating on future plans to attempt to ensure these projects are minimally affected.
Initially, warning signs were flagged up when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it would be investigating Carillion following questions about the timeliness of announcements it had made between December 2016 and July 2017.
However, the investigation was announced just days before the company failed, leaving it unable to fulfil its obligations in public contracts across the rail sector as well as other areas of UK industry.
Top image: Network Rail
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