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NIHE taking contingency steps after Carillion collapse
Northern Ireland’s housing authority has confirmed it will implement contingency arrangements following the collapse of Carillion, with which it has a huge heating services contract.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has contracts worth £336m to replace heating systems across its 86,500-strong stock with three organisations, including Carillion.
But the giant contractor went into compulsory liquidation this morning after running up debts of a reported £1.5bn.
The eight-year agreement is one of the largest ever awarded by the NIHE and had only been in place since November.
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It is shared between Carillion Energy Services, H&A Mechanical Services and Greenview Gas.
“The Housing Executive’s priority at this stage is ensuring continuity of our repair and heating services for tenants. We are currently seeking clarification on the position of Carillion in light of the announcement this morning,” a spokesperson for the NIHE said.
“We are currently meeting with all our response and heating contractors to put in place contingency arrangements should these be required. Unfortunately there may be some disruption to routine services in forthcoming days.”
She added that Carillion met all financial thresholds and criteria at the time the contracts were awards and that the NIHE had no reason to exclude them from the procurement process.
Carillion also has housing maintenance contracts with the NIHE which together with the gas installation works are understood to be worth £35m a year.
Unite members employed by Carillion have voted unanimously to demand direct employment by the NIHE during a mass meeting at the union’s regional offices today.
According to Unite, nearly 250 people are employed by Carillion to carry out housing maintenance work on NIHE stock.
Jackie Pollock, regional secretary for Unite, claimed that the NIHE has previously assured the union that it would safeguard against “discontinuity of employment” if Carillion went into liquidation.
“It is clear that despite those assurances from the Housing Executive we are facing the threat of large-scale redundancy,” he said, adding that Carillion workers were told to go home by bosses this morning.
“To that end we are demanding that all workers, including those employed through agencies, need to be provided with immediate and secure public sector employment through the Direct Labour Organisation.”
Update: at 16.12pm, 15/01/18: Information regarding the vote by Unite members was added to the story.
Update: at 17.07pm, 15/01/18: An updated statement from the NIHE was added to the story.
