Annual revenue could be reduced by £1.1 million
Dozens of disabled workers at a factory run by a Scots charity are facing the devastating prospect of losing their jobs.
Staff at Haven Products say that if the Scottish Government doesn't act now to renew contracts they've had for years to make NHS nurses’ uniforms and digitally archive documents, they face being made redundant.
And the Haven Products social enterprise, which employs people with various disabilities, faces the agonising prospect of closing its factory in Larbert, Stirlingshire.
They have been told that the number of tunics and trousers they make for NHS staff in Scotland will be drastically reduced in the last four months of their current annual contract, and they have yet to have guaranteed work for next year.
Staff were also shocked by the announcement that the Scottish Government was ending a registered charity's annual contract to prepare and digitise Government documents, thereby putting the jobs of 60 workers, most of whom have disabilities, at risk.
Now, one worker at Haven Products, 28-year-old Calum Stewart, pictured, who has Asperger's Syndrome, fears he may lose the house he bought with his fiancée only two months ago if he is made redundant and can't keep up the mortgage payments.
"If we lose these contracts and this place is forced to close, the Scottish Government will be condemning the workforce here, who have many different kinds of disabilities, to life on the dole and their lives will be ruined,” said Calum.
"The people who work here will have the security, self-respect and dignity of having a job and earning a living taken away from them," he added.
Karen Motherwell, head of Haven Products, explained that the crisis they face due to the reduction and loss of the contracts means annual revenue will be reduced by more than £1.1 million.
Motherwell said: "This double-whammy will destroy our business and immediately make 47 disabled workers redundant. When this happens, the factory at Larbert will not be economically sustainable and we'll have to close, making the remaining 13 staff redundant as well.
“The Scottish Government want to do the digitising work themselves at their records department in Saughton House, in Edinburgh.
"Almost all of our staff are either, disadvantaged or vulnerable and unless the Scottish Government move to have the contracts re-instated, their decisions will have a devastating effect on our disabled workers," she added.
Calum Stewart, from Bo'ness, has been working with Haven for almost ten years. He started on the production line and was promoted to supervisor.
He said: "I wouldn't have been able to save enough money to pay the deposit on the house, nor get a mortgage in the first place if I didn't have this job at Haven. If I'm made redundant and can't quickly find another job, I could well lose my house, as I wouldn't have a wage to pay the mortgage.”
"If this place closes a lot of my colleagues will struggle and find it difficult to get another job.
"Colleagues have told me they are petrified that this place will shut down. This is the only workplace locally that gives full-time work to people with disabilities."
The Scottish Government has been asked for comment.
