Life After Longbridge? Final Call for Ex Workers to Participate in New Study

A team of researchers at the University of Birmingham is looking for participants to help in a study about the effects of Rover’s decline.

Around 6,300 workers lost their jobs when MG Rover collapsed in 2005 with several thousand more affected in the supply chain.  This project aims to understand how the loss of employment arising from the closure of Longbridge has affected the well-being of ex-workers and their families and impacts on neighbourhoods - in particular on employment prospects, job quality, health, family and social cohesion and housing issues. 

The team brings together the University’s Business School and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies in the School of Public Policy.  Professor David Bailey of Birmingham Business School says; ‘We are looking for former Rover employees to talk about how they have been affected by the closure, what support they have had, what work, education or training they have taken up, whether they have been unemployed, how they feel about their new jobs and whether the experience has affected their health. 

‘We would like to talk to people who have been affected, so if you would like to be interviewed as part of this project, we would be delighted to hear from you – call us on 0800 0144354 to leave your contact details and we will be in touch with you.’

The researchers will also look at the policy response both before and after the closure and will undertake a comparative analysis with researchers in Australia, where a team at Flinders University is also looking at the policy reponses to plant closures.

Those wanting further information can visit http://www.curs.bham.ac.uk/Research/EDG/Longbridge.htm  Participation in the study is voluntary and confidential. 

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Notes to Editors

The project is funded by Birmingham City Council, the Rover Community Action Trust (RCAT) and The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. The ESRC supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2007/08 is £181 million.  At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

For further media information please contact Kate Chapple, Press Officer, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.