Workers at crisis-hit Southern Cross not paid

by Ryan Pilot, Sunday Mirror 19/06/2011

Southern Cross boss Jamie Buchan

Crisis-hit care home provider Southern Cross was under fire again yesterday after hundreds of staff were not paid their wages.

Around 200 employees have either not been paid their full amount or have not received any money at all for the past month.

Many of the workers, who are based in the company’s 106 care homes in the Tyneside area, have refused to go to work until they are paid.

Staff have branded the latest development the “beginning of the end” as the UK’s biggest care home provider struggles to stay afloat. But bosses claim the problem is just a “technical glitch” linked to their new payroll system.

However, one long-serving manager said: “I believe the truth is they simply have no money left. In my view, it is only a matter of time before we fold.”

A Southern Cross spokesman said: “This problem is being sorted in the next few weeks and we hope to have paid all our staff their full wage by the end of July. I concede the situation is not ideal.”

Last week chief executive Jamie Buchan agreed an emergency rescue plan to save the company.