Debt-stricken P&O Ferries spent £47m on mass sackings in 2022

P&O Ferries spent more than £47m on sacking hundreds of UK seafarers in 2022, according to its long-overdue accounts that will be published in the coming days.

- Simon Goodley

The filings, which the Guardian has seen, confirm the financial cost of the company's actions two and a half years ago when it outraged the public and parliament by dismissing 786 mainly British ferry workers and then replacing many with low-cost agency staff from countries including India, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The scandal re-emerged last month when the prime minister, Keir Starmer, rebuked his transport secretary, Louise Haigh, after she referred to the ferry operator as a "rogue operator". DP World, P&O's Dubai-based owner, had reportedly threatened to pull out of a £1bn investment in the UK over the comments.

P&O had always argued the sackings were necessary to save the company. The accounts, which are almost 11 months late, illustrate the business's dire financial condition.