Communisis Leeds: Cross Gates printing business goes into administration with 638 staff made redundant

Communisis Limited, which has a major site in Cross Gates, was taken over by administrators from Interpath Advisory on Thursday (December 28).

The integrated marketing services company, which provided print and mailing services for the UK's largest financial and public institutions, employed more than 1,000 people in the UK and around 200 overseas.

Part of the business was sold to Paragon Customer Communications during the administration process, safeguarding the jobs of 581 people. But som operations have closed down at the group’s sites in Leeds, Liverpool and Cramlington, meaning 638 employees have lost their jobs.

One employee told the Yorkshire Evening Post that staff at the Cross Gates site in Manston Lane were called in at 6am on Friday and told they were being made redundant.

Stephen Absolom, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “First and foremost, we recognise that this will come as a devastating blow to those Communisis workers who have been impacted by redundancy.

“Our immediate priority will be to work with all affected employees to ensure that the full range of support is available to them.

“We will be making contact with Communisis’ key competitors, customers and other companies who work in this space to enquire around possible employment opportunities for staff. We will collate all relevant information, including contact details such as telephone numbers and hotlines, and we will also be speaking as a matter of urgency with the Job Centre Rapid Response Unit.

“We are also liaising with the Insolvency Service in relation to the timing of redundancy payments via the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Interpath Advisory said that the printing sector is being hit by “inexorably declining volumes” in the wake of the emergence of digital technologies, while the costs of production has also hit some companies across the sector hard.

Administrators added that a digital transformation programme at Communisis had been costlier than expected. This, combined with the loss of customer contracts and restructuring in the company’s US parent business, meant the company could not continue trading and directors made the “difficult decision” to put the company into administration.