A CAMPAIGN by a North-East MP has led to formal agreement allowing employment experts into insolvent firms to speak to staff facing redundancy.

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson started his campaign in January, after an insolvency practitioner denied Jobcentre Plus access to a factory in his constituency.

Now Mr Wilson, Employment Minister Jim Knight, Business Minister Ian Lucas, the Insolvency Service and Jobcentre Plus will sign a memorandum of understanding with Insolvency Trade Body R3.

R3 represents 97 per cent of the UK’s insolvency practitioners and the memorandum will put the emphasis on members to inform Jobcentre Plus as soon as they know that redundancies are to be made.

The new arrangements will be reviewed by those involved on a quarterly basis.

Mr Wilson said: “What R3 can do, is say we have a memorandum of understanding, so it is incumbent on members to do this.

“On a lot of occasions firms do, but on some occasions they haven’t.”

Mr Wilson said it was understood that in the immediate hours after being called in, insolvency firms might be busy dealing with issues on site.

He added: “I saw at first hand the need for Jobcentre Plus, insolvency practitioners and the Insolvency Service to join up and help workers who are being made redundant.

“People in this situation are often confused and lack confidence in what to do next.

“The memorandum will signpost people to Jobcentre Plus more efficiently after a business closes. It is an excellent step forward and I would like to congratulate the work R3 and Jobcentre Plus for their work so far”

Employment Minister Jim Knight said: “It is important that we don’t just wait for someone to lose their job before we start to help them.

“The pre-redundancy service Jobcentre Plus offers has helped thousands of people get new jobs quickly – stopping a short-term difficulty becoming a long term problem.”

In January, Mr Wilson tabled an Early Day Motion in the Commons on the issue, which won the support of 92 MPs, including members of the Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democratic, Scottish National Party and Democratic Unionist parties.

On April 21, he introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill, which outlined the problem that some insolvency practitioners worked with Jobcentre Plus, while others did not.

Electrolux, which was not in administration, worked with Jobcentre Plus and other agencies as soon as it announced, in December 2007, that it was closing its factory in Spennymoor. The majority of staff were back in work within six months.