by Arash Hekmat
It appears the economic gloom continues to swirl around many of the UK’s companies, with a Hull-based caravan maker the latest to be forced into making job cuts.
Willerby Holiday Homes has announced it is to cut 193 from its workforce of nearly 700.
The reduction in its workforce comes shortly after the introduction of the highly controversial five per cent VAT ‘caravan tax’.
Originally, the Government had wanted to add 20 per cent VAT, but was forced to reduce this figure to five per cent in the face of strong opposition from the industry.
The National Caravan Council warned that such a move would lead to as many as 7,000 jobs being lost, but the latest news suggests caravan makers continue to struggle with the five per cent tax.
With so much of the caravan industry centred on Hull and East Yorkshire, fears are being raised about what further job cuts in the industry could mean for the north-east.
In its statement, Willerby admitted that the number of job losses would have been much higher had the proposed caravan tax gone through.
It said: “The reduced level of employee redundancies from the 350 initially estimated in May is a result of the company’s view of its market in the ongoing tough economic climate together with the Government’s decision to limit the increases in VAT from the original 20 per cent proposed.”
