JCB denies refusing wage subsidy as more jobs go

JCB has denied suggestions that it refused a wage subsidy for some workers at its transmission factory in Wrexham where it is making a further 17 people redundant.

Company spokesman John Kavanagh said: “We looked into the scheme but decided it wasn’t a practical option. The £2,000 per person scheme introduced by the Welsh Assembly is not an annual payment but a one-off and is limited to 100 workers – we have 400.

“It also comes with a training dimension and as the Wrexham plant is a just-in-time supplier to our factories in Rocester there would have been a knock-on impact for the English factories, where no-such scheme exists.”

JCB has called for a broader scheme to be made available to all UK companies as seen in parts of Europe. The company said that its own short-time working arrangement has actually saved 283 of the 684 jobs losses identified in January.