Members of staff who were among those to be put on temporary ‘coronavirus’ leave by the Costa franchise in Cliftonville have been notified of redundancy.
It is understood at least three workers have received emails from franchisee Goldex Investments to inform them that their positions are to be axed.
The staff had been furloughed by the company under the Government’s job retention scheme aimed at giving businesses financial support during the pandemic.
Costa, and its franchisees, closed stores on March 23 in line with government guidance to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The retention scheme has been launched in a bid to save jobs as businesses cope with the financial impact of the enforced closures.
In the email, seen by The Isle of Thanet News, Goldex Investments Ltd says: “We are forced to make redundancies due to the current pandemic and inevitable losses that have occurred and will continue to occur for the foreseeable future.”
Goldex Investment told the employees of the Northdown Road branch that a lack of financial relief from Costa and the delay in being able to access any government funding contributed to a decision to cut staff costs.
According to the email plans to reopen the site as a takeaway after the pandemic have resulted in a need for less staff.
The letter says March pay will be through the furlough scheme but if the store closure lasts longer than the four week notice period there would be no payment in lieu of notice.
One of the staff members whose job has been cut said three out of seven employees had received an ‘effective immediately’ redundancy email.
In 2017 Goldex became the largest franchisee in the UK with over 75 stores, including franchises with Costa and Kaspers in Kent and Sussex.
According to the British Chambers of Commerce 66% of firms in the UK have furloughed some or all of their staff and 59% of firms have just three months or less cash flow in their reserves.
More than 140,000 firms have applied for help from the job retention scheme since it went live yesterday (April 20).
Goldex Investments has been contacted for comment.
That is disgusting
It was popular here
why should staff be sacked for no reason
where is the Union on this
and Costa are a large company
they could do take aways instead of making people redundant
I agree why cant drive though on wwx one go ahead for a start?
That’s really sad. They are lovely staff there.
Actually that could be a good space to use for a community space and meetings
remember something like that was in Ramsgate with money and funding thrown at it then it disappeared with all the money
we do not want furniture shops that just sit idle and sell at expensive prices nor do we want cheap tack either
we do not have a decent cafe here and Costa filled that gap
just looked them up
residential in gravesend and looked at where the money goes and well well well another company that likes offshore leaks with their agent
in other words money offshore leaks
shame on this company
Are you aware All 50 wind farm maintenance workers have been made redundant monday
.all.local jpbs now going off shore.needs the highest of examination given the promises to TDC.
Please tell me more on the windfarm jobs.
Thank you, I shall make enquiries
I had heard Goldex Investments are just money grabbers and pay below minimum wages for long unflexible hours on zero rate pay scheme so this news is what you would expect to keep the financers and shareholders happy. They have no care at all for their staff, easy come easy go in their eyes and I am not surprised Rebecca has found out they are an offshore enterprise. No great loss to the country if they went belly up.
Would appear Goldex are manipulating scheme designed to save jobs to cover 80% of notice costs … if no job at end of Pandemic they should be made to pay money back to government
Strange isn’t it? Throughout Britain they sell millions of cups of coffee a Month at £2.50 per cup/mug, manage the high rents, but can’t pay staff, so they have to go. I wonder if they have cancelled their lease’s on the buildings they use.
I am sorry for the staff, especially if they have been for under 2 years, those in this group might not receive a penny of redundancy money.
More reason for the public to stop using chain coffee shops and restaurants. These places exploit workers and the tax system. This pandemic needs to be a wake up call to everyone that the large multinational companies only exploit workers and the governments. Make them pay staff properly and put them on contracts (zero hours needs to be abolished) and also pay the full amount of corporation tax, no more tax avoiding schemes for large companies to hide behind. We will all be paying for this pandemic for the rest of our lives, it is about time the governments of the world told these large companies to play ball of employment and tax or you can’t trade, simple as that.
The towns are full of coffee shops, support the independents that are run by the owners and families, Small businesses which may well disappear completely after this virus. The old saying use them or lose them.
How many staff were made redundant at saga, Westwood on 31st March? Quite a lot, they just got covered up by the corona viruse
Use the bachelors cafe across the road when it reopens hopefully after this lockdown stops