Following steel producer Tata Steel UK’s decision to ‘transition to greener steelmaking and a more sustainable business’, it has been announced that £13.5 million in government funding has been made available to ‘support supply chain businesses and workers’ affected by this decision.
Tata Steel reportedly employs around 8,000 people in the UK, half of which are based at its plant in Port Talbot, Wales. On 15 September 2023, it was announced that Tata Steel and the UK Government had agreed on a proposal to ‘invest in state-of-the-art electric arc furnace steelmaking at the Port Talbot site, with a capital investment of £1.25 billion including a grant from the UK Government of up to £500m’.
When the company outlined its ‘transformation from blast furnaces to green steelmaking in the UK’ on 19 January 2024, it revealed that ‘up to 2,800 employees are expected to be potentially affected, out of which around 2,500 roles would be impacted in the next 18 months’.
The announcement of the £13.5 million in funding came as the Tata Steel / Port Talbot Transition Board met for the second time under its new chair, Welsh secretary Jo Stevens MP. The funding is the first release from the government’s £80 million contribution to the Transition Board fund. An additional £20 million contribution has been made by Tata Steel.
According to Tata Steel, this fund is aimed at ‘supporting local businesses that are heavily reliant on Tata Steel as their primary customer, allowing them to turn towards new markets and customers where necessary’.
It was also announced in this meeting that over 50 businesses have already signed a pledge to support any workers who leave their jobs in the steelworks.
Stevens commented: “Today’s release of an initial £13.5m in funding demonstrates that we will act decisively to support workers and businesses in Port Talbot, working with Welsh government, unions and the wider community.
“We are also harnessing the generosity of the local community, with dozens of employers so far pledging practical support for workers. Steelmaking is the lifeblood of communities in Wales, but so too is the support of local businesses. What they are offering will make a real difference to suppliers and staff.”
In July 2024, a statement from the office of the secretary of state for Wales confirmed that ‘many contractor and supply chain jobs are directly reliant on the processes that have already ended at the Port Talbot steelworks, with the closure of the Morfa Coke Ovens and Blast Furnace 5’, with Stevens later noting: “We’ve seen jobs lost in the supply chain already”.
Following the meeting on 15 August, Rajesh Nair, CEO of Tata Steel UK, said: “The Transition Board plays a very important role in supporting the transformation of our business to low-CO2 steelmaking and encouraging regeneration and inward investment to the area, whilst helping to mitigate the impacts those changes may have on our people, our supply chain and our communities.”
