Maria (whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity) is due to give birth soon. She hadn’t yet started maternity leave when ISG filed for administration on 20 September, making her and 2,200 other workers redundant with immediate effect.
It is unclear how many other employees were in a similar situation to Maria’s, but estimates shared by those who spoke with CIOB People indicate it could be more than 50.
“We were left alone,” Maria says. “We were supposed to get nine months of fully paid maternity leave before this happened. I’m sure each one of us would have prepared differently had we known this was going to come.”
ISG’s maternity pay package was considered among the most progressive in the industry at 39 weeks of full pay in addition to holidays.
Now that the company has gone bust, Maria and her colleagues will only be entitled to the government’s statutory maternity leave. That’s 90% of the average pre-tax weekly pay during the first six weeks. For the remaining 33 weeks, it’s £184.03 or 90% of the average pre-tax weekly pay – whichever is less.
“My salary is quite significant in my household, and I have several financial commitments, including a mortgage,” continues Maria, who held a senior role at the company.
“My partner and I are considering downsizing our home. I was waiting for this pregnancy for so long and now I have no financial cushion, nothing that can help me.”
Although many women are expected to feel mostly recovered from childbirth after six to eight weeks, it can take up to a year or longer if there are complications during delivery or the mother has health conditions.
“After the sixth week, my statutory payments will go down to £184 a week, a considerable reduction from my salary,” Maria adds. “For someone who lives in a main UK city and has significant ongoing expenses, it is just not enough.”
Whereas most employees can go and look for another job, there is a very specific group of women who just can’t and that’s why I feel ISG and EY [ISG’s administrators] should have offered us a better solution
'Maria', ISG
Left neglected
Maria tells CIOB People that working at ISG felt like a family. Although a big contractor – the sixth largest in the UK by turnover – each cluster had close-knit site teams and she felt the company invested in its employees.
That is why she feels particularly let down by the organisation in the wake of the financial fallout and its aftermath.
“It is very disappointing because the time I was at ISG was amazing. I’m from a profitable division in the group. We worked very hard to make our projects successful. Now, there’s no one for me; I’ve been basically left alone,” she says.
With her delivery date approaching, Maria says she cannot find a new job and is worried about how she and her family will cope when her baby arrives.
“Being made redundant is never fun to anyone, but whereas most employees can go and look for another job, there is a very specific group of women who just can’t and that’s why I feel ISG and EY [ISG’s administrators] should have offered us a better solution.
“My pregnant colleagues, those on maternity leave and I can’t go back to the market now. I feel we should have been looked after better.”
In response, an EY spokesperson said that the joint administrators are governed by legislation and legal statutory requirements and are unable to comment on specific employee cases.
“We advise any former ISG employees on maternity leave to contact HMRC to find out what they are entitled to,” they added.
Stark choices
For Emily Shallcross, ISG’s collapse has not only impacted her and her colleagues' financial security but also the time that they were meant to spend with their babies.
At 34 weeks pregnant and a high-risk pregnancy, she is facing the grim choice of going into debt and depleting savings to spend time with her newborn or cutting her leave short and returning to work early.
“Some of us are looking to return [to the job market] within a couple of months after giving birth which is just heartbreaking,” says Shallcross, who was senior design manager at ISG and had been at the company for more than three years.
“Statutory maternity leave after the initial six weeks is less than half of the national living wage. Yet you’re expected to make ends meet with the same outgoings. It’s impossible. This has added a lot of stress to what should be a happy time.”
Shallcross and her colleagues have created a WhatsApp group to support each other and share advice. There are currently up to 18 members in it, including pregnant staff and those who were already on maternity leave when ISG collapsed.
However, she thinks that there could be many more women affected across the company.
“I've only shared the WhatsApp group in a wider ISG support group of 700 people,” Shallcross tells CIOB People. “Extrapolating that out as a general percentage on the 2,200 people that were let go, it could be as bad as 56 of us, but there is no way of knowing the exact figure.”
Statutory maternity leave after the initial six weeks is less than half of the national living wage. Yet you’re expected to make ends meet with the same outgoings. It’s impossible
Emily Shallcross, ISG
Like Maria, Shallcross says she is disappointed by the lack of transparency around the contractor’s imminent collapse. “A full year of financial security with no worries was an absolute dream, now it's all gone overnight without any warning.
“If we had known, then at least we would have been able to put some plans in place to cover the loss of salaries.”
Setback for women in construction
Both Maria and Shallcross think this crisis flags the wider challenges and discrimination that women have traditionally faced in the construction industry.
“We've lost our financial independence as women and now are forced to be fully dependent on partners, families, benefits or credit card debt,” Shallcross says. “The system is stacked against us, it's all just so frustrating.”
Government data shows that progress in female representation continues to be slow. Female workers made up 12.8% of the construction workforce at the turn of the century, which is close to the latest Office for National Statistics figures, where women constitute 13.2% of the industry’s workforce.
Despite her positive experience at ISG up until the collapse of the business, Maria believes there are still people in construction who don’t fully grasp how pregnant women and new mothers are being affected, particularly where their income is not just an add-on but essential to supporting the household.
“Because this is such a male industry, I don’t think some of those at the top who are probably the main providers in their families realise that women also contribute significantly to the household finances and removing our salaries has a huge impact.”
Shallcross agrees: “We like to think we’ve come a long way with equality, but this scenario sheds a harsh light on the continuing difficulties women face wanting to have a family and maintain a career. It shouldn’t have to be a choice.”
If you are an employer in construction able to offer ISG employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave a part-time or full-time position, please email [email protected]
