Carillion: small firms in supply chain could lay-off thousands

There’s no better way to damn a company than claim it is “too big to fail”. The collapse of UK facilities management group Carillion is set to leave suppliers and subcontractors desperately seeking to claw back some £2bn owed, according to Construction Enquirer. And The Independent reports that companies will get less than 1p for every £1 they are owed – raising concerns that smaller operators will be forced to lay-off thousands of employees. Federation of Small Businesses national chairman Mike Cherry said it was vital suppliers were paid. He added: “Some of those firms could themselves be put in jeopardy, putting even more jobs at risk besides those of Carillion’s own employees.” As yet, no creditor lists have been released, but we’d be surprised to find no forwarders on it, with the UK’s second biggest construction company’s interests stretching across a host of industries across the world, including transport infrastructure, power, real estate and healthcare.