Huddersfield training company workers at ESTL left with out pay after dispute between firm and Kirklees College

Aug 4 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

DOZENS of workers went without pay for months in a multi-million pound education dispute.

Some staff at Huddersfield-based Enterprise Solutions Training Ltd (ESTL) have lost their homes because of the long-running stand-off with Kirklees College.

The company had a contract with the college to provide courses in subjects including retail, customer service and taxi driving.

But Kirklees College is refusing to pay the multi-million pound contract in a dispute about the quality of the training which ESTL provided.

The move forced the company to make 60 of its 100 staff redundant – with the remaining 40 workers struggling on without wages for four months.

An employee told the Examiner that the dispute had taken a heavy toll.

The worker, who asked not to be named, said: “People are really struggling because of this, they’re losing their houses, they’re really badly in debt.

“If anyone finds a job they leave, but most staff have had to stay because there are no jobs out there.

“People are miserable and really angry about this.”

The company had been based at Pembroke House in Kirkburton but moved to premises four times bigger at Folly Hall Mills in January, 2009.

The employee said: “The company had this big contract so it moved to larger premises.”

ESTL was providing NVQ courses including Road Passenger Vehicle Driving for cabbies, and training in retail and customer service. Staff took the courses at various sites, including Storthes Hall and Eightlands in Dewsbury.

The contract with the college is believed to be worth several million pounds.

But things turned sour in September, 2009, when Kirklees College halted payments to ESTL in a dispute about the quality of training the company was providing.

With few other sources of income, the company made more than half its staff redundant, with the remaining workers going unpaid for four months until January of this year.

ESTL began to pay wages again when it won a new contract with West Kent College – but workers had to take salary cuts.

Last month the company moved back to the smaller premises in Pembroke House to save money.

The Examiner phoned ESTL chairman Gordon Haigh for a comment yesterday.