The Welsh government has today (Thursday, April 6) announced that it is making £206,000 of additional funding available to help the former staff of 2 Sisters Food Group’s Llangefni poultry plant.
The plant, which employed over 700 people, closed down on Friday (March 31).
This new funding funding will boost the Communities for Work Plus programme (CfW+) on Anglesey and in Gwynedd, with the aim of helping the former staff find new jobs.
The service aims to provide employability support to those facing barriers to employment and is delivered primarily through local authorities, including local employment charity Môn CF on Anglesey.
The Welsh government said the additional funding, announced by Economy Minister Vaughan Gething, will enable Anglesey employment charity Môn CF and Gwynedd Council to employ additional members though the coming year.
“The additional investment I’m announcing today will boost the Welsh government’s Communities for Work Plus employment support service locally, which is providing people with the intensive support they need to find new jobs, or to take up new training opportunities through our ReAct+ programme,” Minister Gething said.
“The closure of the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni has had a devastating impact on the local community and the wider region.
“The Welsh government set up a taskforce jointly with Isle of Anglesey County Council and the UK government to ensure everything that could be done was being done to help save the jobs at the plant,” he added.
“The taskforce has worked in close collaboration with trades unions representatives at the site.”
2 Sisters
2 Sisters Food Group announced in January of this year that its Llangefni site was set to close, saying that it was “not sustainable” to keep operating.
The company said in a statement in January that the site in Anglesey, Wales, is one of its oldest and lacks the space it needs to be efficient.
“The cost to produce here is higher, and it would require significant investment to bring it up to the standards of our other factories,” the company said in its statement.
The Welsh government subsequently formed a taskforce to help those impacted shortly after the site’s closure was announced, and the company committed to create opportunities for staff.
A spokesperson for the Llangefni factory said that almost a third of the site’s employees have either secured or applied for roles elsewhere so far.
“This includes 113 colleagues who have found jobs in Anglesey or the north Wales region, and 54 who have either secured or applied for roles in our wider business across the UK,” they said.
“We expect all these numbers to rise in the coming weeks.
“In total, we have delivered more than 1,500 support workshop sessions to the 400 employees who requested it, ranging from CV and letter writing, interview techniques and digital enablement sessions,” they added.
“Whilst we acknowledge this can be no substitution for the closing of the site, we remain committed to doing all we can and are offering additional support for a further month after this week’s closure.”
