Proposed job cuts at Cadent Gas are irresponsible and unnecessary

Company must reconsider job loss plans

Plans to cut up to 450 jobs at Cadent Gas are totally unnecessary and must be urgently reconsidered, says UNISON today (Tuesday).

As part of a consultation that has begun this week, the company announced that roles in the customer services, technical, scheduling and dispatch, repair planning and supervisory teams will go, despite past assurances by the company.

Cadent had previously flagged a potential restructure of management posts, acknowledging that the business had too many. But plans shared with UNISON reveal that instead it’s the lowest paid in the company that will be affected, with a significant reduction in customer facing roles.

Cadent is the UK’s largest gas distribution company, supplying millions of households across large sections of the East and West Midlands, South Yorkshire, East Anglia and North London.

The company must rethink its plans and engage with the union in a meaningful and open way, says UNISON. Cadent should also give a commitment that it will not make any compulsory redundancies, the union says.

UNISON national officer for energy Matthew Lay said: “The plans are simply irresponsible, unnecessary and led by greed at a business which already generates huge profits.

“Making brutal cuts like this will have a serious impact on the company’s customers, who will struggle to get decent support and access to engineers if they have leaks or other safety issues.

“These proposals will also be a major blow to staff at Cadent who will be understandably worried about losing their jobs in a pandemic, during which they’ve been rightly praised as essential keys workers.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services – in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, private and community sectors.

Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Fatima Ayad M: 07508 080383 E: f.ayad@unison.co.uk