Connaught Partnerships personnel are in shock this evening as administrators, KPMG have laid off hundreds of staff from partnerships including the office which served Weir Estate and Lambeth Estates, sources have revealed.

Despite being assured that there would be no redundancies of staff in the immediate future, many staff has been told to clear their desks with immediate effect, during a conference call.
The redundancies have also left residents in the dark as to how repairs and maintenance services are to be carried out.

KPMG who have take-over responsibility for Connaught plc and Connaught Partnerships Ltd after the company entered administration this week. The company which has provided responsive repairs to Weir Estate has collapsed following the dismissal of all the staff serving the area.

Emergency repairs are being given to Morrison’s and all other non-essential repairs have been placed on hold hitting thousands of resident’s homes.

With no information being given to residents or their associations residents are left in the dark as staff count the cost of losing their jobs in tough economic times.

Lambeth Living said in a statement “Lambeth Living and Lambeth Council are monitoring developments with Connaught very closely.  We would like to reassure tenants and leaseholders that we have contingency plans to provide services should Connaught stop trading. This week’s announcement 7 September 2010 means parts of Connaught have gone into administration, not liquidation. Connaught provides a number of housing related services in Lambeth and some of these services are provided by parts of the business that have gone into administration.”

The statement added “Day-to-day responsive maintenance and empty properties services are however provided by parts of Connaught that has entered into administration.

It is important to remember that the administrator is required to continue providing these services. We will be monitoring service levels closely over the next couple of days. In the case of empty properties for example another contractor is on standby to step in.

Lambeth Living is also taking appropriate steps to minimise any financial risk to itself and the council.”

However, with thousand of staff being laid off this evening, it would appear that contracts run by Connaught are in discussion to be sold off.

The question is now, where does this leave services to residents homes?

As residents are now left to ponder who is delivering services there is also no indication of what or when the contingency plans will take effect.