Third of workforce to go at Lindsey Oil Refinery

Almost a third of the workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery are to lose their jobs.

The Insolvency Service said 125 employees would be made redundant at the end of October, with 255 people remaining at the site at North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.

The refinery was taken over by the official receiver in June after its owner, Prax Group, went into administration.

The Unite union said the government was “responsible for the redundancies going ahead, as it could provide support to ensure the refinery is kept intact and operational”.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the official receiver was “assessing potential bids for the future of the refinery and its assets”.

“Our thoughts are with the workers, their families and the community who have been badly let down by Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery owners,” he said.

Shanks said the decision had been made to give employees “as much notice as possible” while concluding the sales process.

He added: “The majority of the workforce will be retained beyond the end of October and we remain hopeful that a solution will be found that supports jobs on the site long-term.”

The Insolvency Service said affected employees would be supported via the redundancy payments service and the official receiver was prioritising “the ongoing process to secure the sale of the refinery”.

A spokesperson added: “This decision was not taken lightly and follows a thorough review of all aspects of the business, following its insolvency.

“The conduct of the company and its directors, following the liquidation of Prax Oil Refinery, remains the subject of an ongoing Insolvency Service investigation.”

Frederick Robinson, who used to work at the site, described the news of job losses as “disastrous”.

“There’s no more jobs in this area for them,” he said.

“So they’ve got to either retrain or move out the area. It could be a really worrying time, especially for the young families with young kids, mortgages.”

Martin Vickers, Conservative MP for the area, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the government “could and should have done more”.

“For those individuals and their families this is a massive blow but it’s also a major blow to the local economy,” he said.

“[The government] should have provided funding to maintain production for a much longer period, allowing more time to assess potential investors, including at least one that was interested in maintaining refining capacity.”

Unite claimed there had been at least two bids to “buy and operate the site as a going concern keeping a full workforce”.

Mick Simpson, from the union, said people were “angry” at the announcement, particularly as “no decision has been made yet on any potential buyer for either all or part of the site”.

“We’ve always said that we want bids to be prioritised that focus on… retaining jobs, and that means that the site is bought as a fully operational refinery,” he said.

“Nobody in government or even the official receiver seems to take into consideration the devastating effect that this is going to have, not just on [the] directly employed, the contractors, the supply chain, but the whole community and the local economy as well.”

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