Fresh Bid To Save Wrexham Remploy Rejected

A fresh bid to safeguard the future of Wrexham’s Remploy factory has been turned down today.

In a letter to bidders they were told that “your plan has been unsuccessful and will not be taken forward.”

However, discussions were offered to over ‘elements’ of the plan, ‘to help achieve your business objectives in Wrexham.’

Remploy have now said that the factory will be closing as no successful business plans have been received.

Wrexham MP Ian Lucas, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the factory said: “Despite offering to listen to a fresh bid, Remploy have once more turned down the proposals.

“Discussions over parts of the plan at some future date will not help Wrexham Remploy employees, who need the factory taken over as a going concern.

“I am desperately sad at this appalling decision.

“The UK government were given every chance to keep Wrexham Remploy open: a commercial business wanted to take it over, supported by the workers there, the local Council and the wider Wrexham community.

“The fact is that the Secretary of State, Iain Duncan-Smith, and the Minister, Maria Miller, wanted this factory shut. The result is that an extra 42 Wrexham people will be out of work, some of them especially vulnerable.

“I want to pay tribute to the Wrexham Remploy workforce. Their determination and dignity has made me proud to work with them. They will be assets to any businesses and I appeal to Wrexham employers to now give them the chance to work denied by this Government.”

AM writes to town’s employers

Following the news of the factory’s closure Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths has written to potential employers in the town to urge them to take on former Remploy workers.

She has written to over 30 business leader in the town to make them aware of the help available from the Welsh Government should they take on one of the former Remploy employees.

The letters alert employers to the £2.4 million Welsh Government Employment Support Scheme.

The scheme, announced last week, provides subsidy to employers who take on former Remploy workers for up to four years and also provides funding for necessary workplace adaptions.

Lesley Griffiths said: “It is a truly tragic situation for the workers and their families, and my heart goes out to them.

“I have written to potential employers to make them aware of the urgency of the situation, and of the help the Welsh Government has made available to employers across wales wishing to take on former Remploy workers.

“This is a situation nobody in Wrexham wanted to see come about. However, I hope sustainable employment for the all the workers can be found in the very near future.”