Stream may have to pay back grants
Bosses at multi-national company Stream will be forced to hand back grants to the Government if more jobs are lost there.
Fears are growing that the low-cost call centre operation could be closed completely within months.
But, if that happens, the Journal has learned that Invest NI will seek to have taxpayers' money returned.
Invest NI confirmed yesterday that they are currently examining the terms and conditions under which grants were paid.
A spokeperson for Invest NI said: "It is probably too early to say when, or indeed if, clawback will be pursued in this instance, as no one has actually been made redundant yet."
Clawback is demanded when Invest NI money has been allocated to certain projects, ie job creation, but the project fails to deliver - for example if new jobs are not sustained for an agreed period.
The 'Journal' has learned that Stream International have received 2.32 million worth of Invest NI assistance since 2000. That included 1.2 million in taxpayer's money which was paid to the company for several projects, including a number of job creation programmes.
The most recent payment was a 60,000 award in 2007. 32,000 of this was used to hire a Business Improvement Agent (BIA) - a strategy which, at the time, was welcomed as saving Stream 1 million.
At the time, Managing Director of Stream International (NI) Ltd, Jeff Jennings, said of the investment: "The impact on our staff has been of particular importance. The introduction of more precisely targeted staff recruitment procedures and training programmes has reduced recruitment costs, increased skills levels and improved the overall quality of service to customers."
The spokesperson for Invest NI stressed the company had contacted Stream to offer "any appropriate support we can give in terms of business development. Stream are an important client and we have a close working relationship with them and hope to maintain this in the long term."
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