Sheffield steel: Worried Speciality Steel workers give wages update after liquidation order
Worried Speciality Steel workers have given an update on wages after the company was put into liquidation.
Staff at the firm, which employs 1,450 at sites in Rotherham and Stocksbridge, were paid on time on August 22, but from a new source.
Teneo (special managers) appeared on bank statements.
It comes after insolvency courts granted a compulsory winding up order sought by creditors owed hundreds of millions of pounds by Speciality Steel UK (SSUK) – part of the Liberty Steel metals empire of tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.
The company is now in the hands of the official receiver - a government appointed liquidator - and special managers from consultancy firm Teneo.
The government has agreed to cover wages of £3.5m-a-month and costs at the plants while a buyer is sought.
It is understood Rotherham has not produced anything since July 2024 and Stocksbridge only sporadically.
Most workers are on a form of furlough, being paid 85 per cent of their wages.
Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge Marie Tidball said she was seeking reassurances about pensions, which have not been paid to Aviva for a year.
She added: “After months of uncertainty and continued adjournments, it’s positive that the Government has taken control of the UK’s third-largest steelworks to try to protect our 1,450 jobs after Liberty Steel’s operations in South Yorkshire have collapsed into administration.”
She also said the government had received approaches from “independent third parties who have expressed an interest in returning some or all of the sites to steel making”, according to a letter from the Department for Business and Trade entered in court.