Jobs Under Threat At KP In Corby

5 September 2014, 09:54 | Updated: 5 September 2014, 10:09

83 permanent jobs are under threat at KP in Corby.

The company has told staff this morning it's starting a consultation period which could see the Corby operation closed by the end of March next year.

The company's CEO Nick Bunker issued the following statement this morning:

“KP Snacks can confirm that we have informed our colleagues at our Consett and Corby factories that, regrettably, in order to develop a sustainable and competitive manufacturing operation, we are proposing to close the sites and to transfer the production to other sites in our network.
 
We operate in an increasingly competitive market and need to focus on our cost base in order to develop a sustainable business. Unfortunately, despite plans to grow our POM-BEAR business, our Corby factory is capacity constrained and has been for some time. Now KP Snacks and Intersnack UK have integrated to form a larger UK business, we have the opportunity to expand our POM-BEAR business in the most cost-efficient manner at our larger Teesside site. In addition, after many years of working hard to try and grow our Consett volume, and despite the growth of Phileas Fogg, the under-utilisation of the site has created an unsustainable situation.
 
We have 1,800 employees in the UK and have invested £30m across our sites over the past 18 months. We are committed to keeping a manufacturing base and maintaining as many jobs as we can in the UK and we are working to ensure we do this in the most effective way, allowing us to ensure a sustainable future for our overall business.
 
We very much appreciate the hard work, commitment and focus on quality of our Corby and Consett colleagues during this difficult time and we will work closely with them as we consult on this proposal in the coming weeks. These are only proposals at this stage and are subject to the appropriate consultation with our colleagues. No final decisions have yet been made.”