Sports Direct staff agency Transline faces collapse

An employment agency at the heart of the scandal surrounding the working conditions at Sports Direct last year is reportedly on the brink of collapse, according to reports.

Sky News says it "has learnt that Transline Group filed a notice of its intention to appoint administrators last week".

It adds: "The move gives the company just days to raise millions of pounds to keep it afloat, or face the threat of collapse."

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Sky says it is understood the "loss of a key contract with Amazon is… among the factors behind the downturn in the company's fortunes".

In March, The Guardian reported that the agency had been stripped of a deal to supply five Amazon warehouses with workers.

In a statement to Sky, Transline said it had "suffered as a result of a continued move to tighter margins in the recruitment industry".

It added: "We are close to securing inward investment that will allow us to drive forward with continued growth and infrastructure development, and have lodged the Notice of Intention to protect the business, our employees and our customers as we complete this process.

"The welfare of our staff and our relationships with our customers are of paramount importance, and we are continuing our service and operations as normal."

Transline was singled out last year for running a "six strikes" policy at Sports Direct's warehouse in Shirebrook that could see workers sacked for a series of minor misdemeanours.

It was also implicated in policies relating to out-of-hours searches and punitive penalties for lateness which resulted in staff being paid less than the minimum wage.

Despite two appearances in front of MPs, the agency refused to honour a back-pay deal for affected workers who were previously employed by another agency until it took on the contract.