Oscar Mayer: Help for Chard's job risk food factory workers

About 860 people worked for Oscar Mayer at the Chard sites, which will close in three months' time

A project has been launched to support hundreds of people who face losing their jobs when a ready meal company moves out of town.

Oscar Mayer employed 860 people in Chard, Somerset, but says three sites will close later this year as they would be too expensive to renovate.

Citizens Advice launched Fresh Start Chard last month to help people with employment, housing and food concerns.

It said the town's community is currently "built around" the sites.

Simon Pedrick, from Citizens Advice, said: "There's a great migrant community that's come from all over Europe to work at Oscar Mayer, all over whom have come to make their homes in Chard and it creates a massive issue for them.

"The county council has stepped in, as have a whole range of other organisations, to try to support people.

"The community has most definitely pulled together to offer support and our part of that really is to try to offer advice and...allow people to access services that they may not be aware of in the area."

Simon Pedrick said the scheme will help some of the hundreds who are expected to be left unemployed

Oscar Mayer, which produces supermarkets' own-brand ready meals, announced the closure of its sites last October.

It plans to close the sites in either late August or early September.

The company said it has held job fairs for employees with local employers "lining up to attend".

It added that about 235 staff have already left, with 143 of those finding direct employment and another 16 returning overseas.

The company said the demand for meat-based ready meals has reduced since the start of the pandemic and that producing meat-free meals in Chard would risk cross-contamination.

It runs other sites in Wrexham, Wales, and Erith in Kent, and both will remain open. About 20 workers are expected to relocate to a new factory in Flint, Wales.