P&O Ferries has defended its move to fire 786 workers without notice, saying it is paying the largest-ever compensation package in the maritime sector.
The claim was made as the company delivered a letter to Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, explaining its actions. It said it would pay more than £36 million. Of those dismissed, 575 are said to be discussing severance offers.
Former workers reacted with fury to the announcement, but are reluctant to speak out as they fear they will lose their payoffs if they talk to the press.
One, who asked not be named, said: “This is a total betrayal. It is clear, just as they were due to respond to the government, that they want everyone to think they have done the right thing. I don’t want a payoff, I want the job I loved and gave my life for.”
P&O said it would pay workers 13 weeks’ salary in lieu of notice and a further 13 weeks’ salary in absence of a consultation period. It will also pay 2.5 weeks’ uncapped salary for each year employed. Statutory redundancy pay is capped at £16,320.
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The company, owned by DP World — a multibillion-dollar ports and shipping empire based in Dubai — is seeking to avoid fines and sanctions because of the way it has handled the mass- firing of its long-standing British crew.
Bosses sacked staff by video-link and without notice last Thursday. It replaced them immediately with agency workers who had been recruited without the knowledge of existing staff.
Pressure has been mounting on the company with ministers threatening unlimited fines if it is found to have breached UK law by not informing the government of the planned sackings. Kwarteng told the company: “Failure to meet the notification obligation is a criminal offence and can lead to an unlimited fine.”
Sources in the industry have said P&O made the move to register its ferries offshore in recent years so they do not have to abide by UK law. The Pride of Hull, for example, is registered in Nassau in the Bahamas. The Pride of Kent switched from the UK to Cyprus in 2019.
In a previous statement the operator said that as all seafarers were engaged on vessels flagged in ports outside the UK “there was no obligation to notify the business secretary”. It added: “The obligation was to notify the appropriate authority in the flag state, which we did at the appropriate time.”
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Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has admitted that because a number of the crew were employed under Jersey laws, this has complicated the situation further.
Upon announcing its settlement agreement, P&O Ferries said: “This has been an incredibly tough decision for the business: to make this choice or face taking the company into administration. This would have meant the loss of 3,000 jobs and the end of P&O Ferries. In making this hard choice, we have guaranteed the future viability of P&O Ferries, avoided large-scale and lengthy disruption, and secured Britain’s trading capacity.”
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: “Our surveyors are carrying out a full inspection of P&O Ferries’ Pride of Hull. This is to make sure they comply with international regulations on manning and safe operation, in particular emergency procedures.”
