Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Collective redundancyLatest NewsMinimum wageRedundancy

P&O Ferries refuses to rehire workers after ‘final opportunity’ letter

by Ashleigh Webber 29 Mar 2022
by Ashleigh Webber 29 Mar 2022 P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite has refused to rehire the dismissed workers
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite has refused to rehire the dismissed workers
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

P&O Ferries’ boss has refused to rehire the 800 workers it dismissed, stating it would cause the company’s collapse, after transport secretary Grant Shapps gave the ferry operator ‘one final opportunity’ to reverse its decision.

In a letter to P&O Ferries CEO Peter Hebblethwaite yesterday (29 March), Shapps said the government’s plans to make it illegal for ferry firms to pay less than the minimum wage would likely force the firm to reinstate the workers if it did not do so now.

“A reversal at this point may also go some way in starting to repair your firm’s reputation,” the letter said.

“I will be bringing a comprehensive package of measures to Parliament to ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions in the way that Parliament and this government already intended.

“With the above in mind, you have one final opportunity to reverse this decision immediately, by offering all 800 workers their jobs back on their previous terms, conditions and wages – should they want them back at this stage.”

My letter to P&O boss makes clear that this government will not stand by while the requirement to treat seafarers with due respect and fairness is brazenly ignored. pic.twitter.com/4ozBsydJPC

— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) March 28, 2022

The letter also urged P&O Ferries to drop its 31 March deadline for staff to respond to its redundancy offer . The ferry operator said 765 have already taken steps to accept their redundancy payments, and more than 500 have signed settlement agreements.

P&O Ferries redundancies

P&O Ferries’ redundancy obligations: Legal Q&A

P&O Ferries chief ‘should step down’ but redundancies expose legal anomalies

Hebblethwaite has today hit back at the letter, suggesting that reversing the cuts would lead to the loss of 2,200 further jobs.

He said: “Complying with your requests would deliberately cause the company’s collapse, resulting in the irretrievable loss of an additional 2,200 jobs.

“I cannot imagine that you would wish to compel an employer to bring about its downfall, affecting not hundreds but thousands of families.”

Today, we have written to the Secretary of State for Transport in response to his latest letter. pic.twitter.com/XbLWSHKgS1

— P&O Ferries (@POferries) March 29, 2022

He refused to withdraw the redundancy agreement deadline as many staff have already signed their contracts.

“These are legally binding agreements, and crew members who have entered them will rightly expect us to comply with their terms.”

The letter adds that the firm recognises that the government is “entitled and empowered to introduce laws it deems appropriate” and noted that it “never sought to undermine the minimum wage regulations”.

It said its new crewing model is relevant for 80% of the global shipping industry and will allow it to remain competitive.

“We have made this difficult decision in the knowledge that it would be highly unpopular and, for some, difficult to reconcile. I reiterate my great distress that no other options could be identified and I profoundly regret the pain caused to so many dedicated P&O Ferries employees,” the letter says.

Many employees who have signed the redundancy agreements are likely to “pocket their pay out and go and work for the competition”, suggested Simon J McMenemy, managing partner in employment law at Ogletree Deakins International.

He suggested that Shapps’ letter “is just a blatant attempt to ride the wave of disgust the public feels to cover up the issue that not only did the government allow this to happen on its watch, it actually made it more likely to happen.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

McMenemy was referring to the fact that previous transport secretary Chris Grayling passed legislation in 2018 that meant ferry operators no longer needed to inform the government if they were making 100 or more redundancies involving employees who lived in the UK.

Employee relations opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more Employee Relations jobs

P&O FerriesGrant Shapps
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Half yet to publish as gender pay gap deadline looms
next post
EAT hears David Mackereth’s appeal against trans pronouns ruling

You may also like

Construction workers win compensation claim against defunct employer

9 May 2025

British Steel puts brakes on redundancy process

23 Apr 2025

Reasons behind Dundee University job losses to be...

28 Mar 2025

British Steel to shed 2,700 jobs at Scunthorpe...

27 Mar 2025

Santander branch closures put 750 jobs at risk

19 Mar 2025

Asda makes 200 IT posts redundant

13 Mar 2025

Number of planned redundancies falls by 13%

11 Mar 2025

HR professionals reveal their fears over making employees...

7 Mar 2025

Employment Rights Bill: Collective redundancy protective award doubled

4 Mar 2025

Agency workers to be included in zero-hours clampdown

4 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+