BOSSES at the Kaiam computer plant in Livingston allowed staff to carry on working while knowing there was no money to pay them, it was confirmed yesterday.
Representatives of Scottish Enterprise said the company had insisted it was confident it could find a way out of its difficulties.
Kaiam went into administration on Christmas Eve with the loss of 300 jobs. Workers were told they would not be paid and would have to make a claim through the insolvency service.
MSPs were told at a committee meeting at the Scottish Parliament yesterday that Scottish Enterprise had encouraged Kaiam to inform its employees and contractors about its situation.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie asked if Scottish Enterprise had been kept fully informed.
Jane Pollock, global accounts team leader for Scottish Enterprise, said: “The behaviour was that they were confident that they would be able to secure what they needed in order to sell the business. That was always the message”.
The committee heard Scottish Enterprise had held “four or five” conference calls, as well as a face-to-face meeting on November 19 with either the chief executive or the chief financial officer.
At a meeting on December 19, Scottish Enterprise invited Pace (the Scottish Government’s redundancy support service) to join a meeting with Kaiam to “remind them of their responsibilities”.
Pollock said: “They said they would just manage through, but the intention was to be able to meet their obligations.”
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