Public sector cuts result in job losses at JDC
Published: 25 October, 2010
Cuts in public sector budgets are resulting in job losses at John Dennis Coachbuilders (JDC). The Guildford-based fire engine manufacturer will be making around 45 people redundant at the end of November 2010.The redundancies will include shop floor workers as well as office staff.
During the recent uncertainty about public sector cuts, many local authorities have put a hold on new orders for fire engines. As a result, JDC, one of the largest fire engine manufacturers in the UK, has had to scale back from making 150 fire engines per year to 100 per year.
Alan McClafferty, managing director of JDC, commented, “Making redundancies is not a decision we have taken lightly and we have held off from taking this action for as long as possible. Over the last few months we have cut overtime and recruitment and looked into opportunities to diversify our product range. However, the reality is that our customer base is local authorities and the doubt over how much their budget may be cut has severely impacted JDC’s business.
“It is not that we are losing lots of orders to our competitors, it is that new fire engines are not being ordered. We now know that local authority budgets will be reduced by 25% over the next four years. How they apportion the reduction in spending is still unclear but it is almost certain that the budget for new fire engines will be affected. We still have a strong pipeline of orders but these orders require us to make two fire engines per week as opposed to the three we were making each week at our peak. In order to survive as a business in the current climate, we need to reduce our headcount by a third and have been left with no option but to make redundancies.”
“We will support those affected as much as possible to help them to find new employment. We will be offering training on CV writing and interview techniques as well as giving advice on pension, finance and career.”
