Job losses at Britishvolt as battery maker enters administration

Dan Hurd, Jo Robinson and Alan Hudson of EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young's global strategy consulting firm, have been appointed joint administrators of Power by Britishvolt Limited.

Power by Britishvolt Limited was incorporated in 2019 and is the main UK company in the wider Britishvolt Group which was set up with the intention of building and operating a Gigafactory in Northumberland to deliver batteries to the UK motor industry and beyond. No other entities in the Britishvolt Group, including a number of UK entities, are in administration.

The company has entered administration due to insufficient equity investment for the ongoing research it was undertaking and the development of its sites in the Midlands and North East England.

The joint administrators said they are assessing the options for realising the potential value in the business and assets of the company, including intellectual property and R&D assets.

The administrators will now implement the closure and winding down of the company. Consequently, the majority of Power by Britishvolt Limited employees have been made redundant with immediate effect.

In a statement, Dan Hurd, joint administrator and partner at EY-Parthenon commented: “Britishvolt provided a significant opportunity to create jobs and employment, as well as support the development of technology and infrastructure needed to help with the UK’s energy transition. It is disappointing that the company has been unable to fulfil its ambitions and secure the equity funding needed to continue.

“Our priorities as joint administrators are now to protect the interests of the company’s creditors, explore options for a sale of the business and assets, and to support the impacted employees.”

Britishvolt had aimed to produce ‘world class’ lithium-ion batteries at its Northumberland site by the end of 2023. The plant aimed to employ up to 3,000 highly skilled people by its final phase in 2027, providing up to 5,000 jobs in the wider supply chain and producing over 300,000 lithium-ion batteries for the UK automotive industry.

In November 2022, staff agreed to a pay cut in effort to reduce near-term costs at the battery technology company. By then, Britishvolt had been the subject of speculation suggesting the company was close to being forced into administration, putting its £3.8bn gigafactory project in Northumberland in jeopardy. The government had made £100m available via the Automotive Transformation Fund but would not let Britishvolt draw on funds until it had met certain targets.

Today, ChronicleLive reports that the company had been in last minute talks to find a buyer for the company, and that a previous offer made by DeaLab Group and Barracuda Group valued Britishvolt at 96 per cent less than it was worth a year ago.

Trade Union Unite has described today’s development as ‘potentially catastrophic’ for the North East and UK’s automotive transition.

Steve Bush, Unite national officer for the automotive sector, said: “This is a grim day for the North East and for the just transition to the electrification of the nation’s automotive sector.

“The complete lack of a competent industrial strategy by the government to protect jobs in the UK automotive sector is becoming potentially more catastrophic by the day.

“It is extraordinary that despite the UK automotive sector being required to move to the production of electric vehicles, there are still no UK stand-alone factories making the batteries that are required. The demise of Britishvolt means there are not even any in the pipeline.”