Welsh Government outlines package of support for Tesco workers

The package has been specifically designed to offer the best level of support to all affected workers to help them access future employment opportunities. 

The agreed measures and delivery timeframes are: 

• Between now and the end of October Tesco’s internal learning and development team will deliver CV writing and interview skills training to all staff. This will be supplemented by additional skills training and advice being offered by Careers Wales. Specialists from Careers Wales and JobCentre Plus will be at the Cardiff site to support staff from tomorrow (September 19)
• The Welsh Contact Centre Forum (WCCF) is working with Tesco and other key partners to deliver a rolling programme of visits by prospective employers throughout November 2017. These will also be repeated in January 2018. More than 20 successful and well-established businesses have already expressed an interest in getting involved with these visits.
• The Welsh Government, in conjunction with the WCCF, is developing a package of information for employers to make them aware of the potential support and incentives offered through programmes such as ReAct for taking on employees facing redundancy.

Tesco will issue invitations to employees to discuss their redundancy packages during the first week of January 2018. From this point all employees will become eligible for the Welsh Government’s ReAct 3 programme and the wide range of additional support measures and incentives it offers.

Economy Secretary and Chair of the Tesco Taskforce, Ken Stakes, said: 

“I know that Tesco’s decision to close its Cardiff contact centre has come as a blow to its highly skilled and award winning staff and I promised at the time we would do everything possible to support workers through this very difficult time. While I appreciate many are still upset by the decision, I hope that by outlining what staff can expect over the coming months it will provide some sense of clarity and reassurance to everyone affected.”

Skills and Science Minister, Julie James who leads on employability across the Welsh Government, added: 

“We appreciate how difficult the last few months have been for staff and one of key our priorities throughout the summer has been to work with our taskforce partners to put in place a range of measures as soon as possible and ensure the best achievable outcome for affected workers.

“We have received indications from more than twenty successful and well established companies in South Wales that they would be interested in providing employment opportunities to Tesco staff at risk of redundancy, and many of those employers will be involved with the employer visits being staged for workers throughout November and January.”

Tesco Customer Engagement Centres Director Rob Graham said: 

“Since the announcement of our plans to close the Customer Engagement Centre we have been working alongside local representatives from Usdaw to support our Cardiff colleagues. We have had considerable interest from other employers in taking on colleagues currently employed at Tesco House and we have put measures in place to assist them in securing alternative employment. We are grateful to the Welsh Government for the additional help they will be providing.”