A winding up order was granted against Nagarjun Ltd, the company that held the franchise to run the Nisa store in Beeston, at the High Court in Leeds yesterday (27 June 2023).
As we reported last week the case was brought by Scottish Power and the order means that the company has ceased trading and will be liquidated.
Whilst staff are entitled to receive any pay owing and a redundancy payment, they are not first in the queue to be paid. If there are insufficient funds to pay them, they will be able to claim payments from the National Insurance Fund, but these are capped. Because the staff were transferred under TUPE regulations, their service with the Co-op will count towards their redundancy payments.
The closure of the store raises further questions including what happens to uncollected parcels that are still in the building and whether the two cash machines will be able to be refilled. The store was leased by Nagarjun Ltd, so these issues will have to be resolved by the liquidator once they are appointed.
A spokesperson for Nisa said:
“All Nisa stores are owned and operated by independent retailers. Nisa Retail provides goods and services to those retailers along with a broad range of support. Nisa notes the outcome of the recent winding up petition and the store in Beeston will remain on stop in regard to trading with Nisa currently. Every effort will be made to find an alternative independent retailer to take over the lease and operation of the store as soon as possible.”
Aidan McCarthy, Usdaw (the shopworkers’ trade union) Area Organiser said:
“We are obviously appalled by the employer’s terrible treatment of our members at the Nisa store in Beeston. We have had no engagement from the employer and we are currently investigating legal redress for the staff impacted. Regrettably the tribunal process is not quick, for example our members who were unfairly made redundant by Debenhams are still waiting for justice 3 years later. That is why we are campaigning for the Government to better protect workers and force bosses to meet their responsibilities to staff. The current regime means it is far too easy for employers to not follow the law.”
We have approached Nargajun Ltd and the Co-op Group (which owns Nisa) for comment, but they have not responded so far.
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Has anyone asked the question as to why the Coop farmed their Beeston store out to NISA in the first place? It seemed to be fine as a Coop so why the change?
I contacted the Co-op when they originally ‘allowed’ Nisa to ‘take-over’ and again when the current situation came to light. Their initial response was business waffle – and more of this the second time. I wonder if any ‘due diligence’ occurred, especially regarding the Staff. Co-op – not interested at all – that’s ‘business!!!’ Sad for the Community.
My guess is that since the 2010 banking scandal that rocked the Co-Op, it has sought to control it’s finances by offloading a number of it’s under-performing local supermarkets onto franchisees via it’s Nisa brand – then if the branch continues to under-perform, it’s someone else’s problem if/when it fails and Co-op avoids the reputational damage that simply closing a branch and robbing a community of one of it’s much needed shopping facilities would inflict.
I’m sure the totally *not* corrupt owners of “Nargajun Ltd” will be held accountable for the money they owe people and won’t disappear into the night. Yes.
I doubt it m8
Sad that this has happened sorry for the staff . Clearly the franchise has not worked out at this branch . How much is owed ? Surely Scottish Power could have held meaningful discussions with the branch franchise owners and sorted a paynent deal before resorting to the courts .
Sometimes these large energy companies hold a lot of clout .
When they took over it chanced from being a well run shop to a shambles with poor stock management and mentality of a small shop. Disgraceful way for workers to be treated
These vacancies may be of interest to the staff who were ex co-op staff:
https://jobs.coop.co.uk/search-jobs?ac=60617&orgIds=22964#
If another Coop job is however now the last thing you now want, Aldi are recruiting:
https://uk.indeed.com/q-aldi-l-leeds-jobs.html?vjk=e45d0a36739f0f46
The store may do better subdivided into smaller units?
Sorry that the staff were left in a difficult situation. They were all deserving of better luck.
Why not change building into a wetherspoons or Aldi/Lidl
I think that would keep Asda on its toes