Liberty Steel: 99 West Bromwich jobs at risk with Black Country plant to stand idle

Bosses at Liberty Performance Steels in Albion Road, West Bromwich, say one of the reasons was down to the rising costs of energy.

Liberty Steel Newport will also be idled and transformed into a sales and distribution hub.

The Liberty Steel UK group said that in the face of the UK steel industry's severe competitiveness it is to implement the next phase of its restructuring programme to ensure a sustainable future.

The plan will create a business positioned to better withstand challenging market conditions, serve strategic supply chains and provide the foundation for a decarbonised UK steel industry.

The actions together with the idling of Liberty Performance Steels in West Bromwich and the reconfiguration of Liberty Steel Newport may potentially impact up to 440 roles across the business.

The company is consulting with employee representatives, Trade Unions and UK Government throughout the process.

The 45-day consultation at West Bromwich started on Thursday, January 12.

Last year there were 45 redundancies at the West Bromwich site as part of 207 across the country in the first phase of the restructuring and transformation plan.

Liberty will offer an alternative to redundancy through its unique Workforce Solutions programme, which aims to retain, redeploy and reskill affected staff.

Under the programme employees will be offered a level of guaranteed salary and outplacement opportunities, with the intention of being redeployed within Liberty Steel UK on previous employment terms when market conditions allow.

Liberty says it will forge a viable way forward for the business, provide a safety net to affected employees and help safeguard jobs in its wider workforce of 1,900 permanent employees and up to 5,000, including contractors.

Jeffrey Kabel, chief transformation officer for Liberty Steel Group said: “Refocusing our operations will set the right platform for Liberty Steel UK’s high-quality manufacturing businesses to adapt quickly to challenging market realities.

"The support of our marquee customers will enable us to produce high value, differentiated products through 2023 and beyond for strategic sectors such as aerospace, defence and energy. We remain committed to our longer-term growth plans in the UK including our plan to grow Rotherham into a two million tonne green steel hub.

“While our action is expected to regrettably impact the roles of some of our workforce we will provide a level of guaranteed salary and out placement opportunities through our unique Workforce Solutions programme as an alternative to redundancy. Liberty’s shareholder Sanjeev Gupta has supported the business through a very difficult period and remains committed to the workforce here in the UK and ensuring our lower carbon operations help deliver a sustainable, decarbonised UK steel industry.”

Despite the injection of £200 million of shareholder capital over the last two years, the production of some commodity grade products at Rotherham and downstream mills has become unviable in the short term due to high energy costs and imports from countries without the same environmental standards.

Primary production through Rotherham’s lower carbon electric arc furnaces will be temporarily reduced while uncompetitive operating conditions prevail.

Liberty also owns Liberty Speciality Steels Bright Bar in All Saints Road, Wednesbury.