Taskforce in place as 75 jobs at risk at Stafford engine maker

Stafford Borough Council is looking to put the group together to help the town’s Perkins Engines which employs around 400 workers making diesel engines at its Tixall Road site in the town.

Perkins’ parent company, Caterpillar, announced it was starting a consultation process to consider ceasing some manufacturing processes and had opened a ‘voluntary severance programme’ for employees.

The taskforce is to include borough council leader, Councillor Patrick Farrington, local MP Theo Clarke and senior officers from both the borough and county councils – as well as other key partners.

The group will look to work with the company to minimise the number of job losses and support workers who are at risk of redundancy.

Caterpillar is consulting over more than 75 redundancies of full-time staff at the engine makers site in Tixall Road.

Perkins, which has its UK head office in Peterborough, has not commented on the plans for the 30-acre site, but Caterpillar spokesman Erik De Leye said: "Perkins Engines Company Ltd manufacturing facility in Stafford, UK, has started a consultation process to consider ceasing certain manufacturing processes and has opened a voluntary severance programme for employees at the facility."

The processes would cease in mid-2021 and would involve the loss of 75 Perkins jobs and some temporary workers' posts.

Perkins Engines, founded in 1932, has eight sites around the world. It employs around 450 at Stafford which makes around 6,000 engines a year.

Councillor Farrington said it would have been ‘devastating’ news for those employees, and their families, who will now fear losing their livelihood.

"Perkins are a major employer in Stafford. We have been in touch with them to offer support and expect to be meeting with key partners very soon so we can use the wide range of expertise and knowledge we have to support the workers and their families.

"We will also be aiming to minimise the number of redundancies, as well as trying to ensure we can keep skilled workers in employment and in our borough, and to assess any wider impact this may have on other local businesses, such as those who are suppliers to Perkins."

The business has been making engines in Stafford since 1903, originally as Dorman Diesels.

Perkins purchased the former Dorman diesel engine business in 1993.