Dozens of Jobs at Risk as Hartlepool Metal Recycling Firm Faces Possible Collapse...

Unimetals Hartlepool

Hartlepool Workers Fear for Jobs just weeks before Christmas, as Unimetals Group Nears Liquidation...

24th November 2025

Dozens of workers at a Hartlepool Metal Recycling Site are facing an anxious wait just weeks before Christmas after its claimed The Unimetals Group — one of the UK’s largest metal recycling companies — is on the brink of liquidation.

Its been reported earlier today that the company which employs around 650 members of staff nationally could formally collapse as early as Tuesday Morning, with the vast majority of it's workforce across the country expected to be made redundant. This includes workers at a site in Hartlepool....

The potential collapse reportedly follows weeks of financial turmoil. With Unimetals reportedly filing several Notices of Intention to Appoint Administrators, a step that alerted both creditors and the government due to the company’s important role in the UK’s steel and metals supply chain.

Attempts to find a buyer over the past month are said to have failed, according to industry sources — a devastating setback for the firm’s workforce, including those based at one of their sites in Hartlepool.

Unimetals operates 27 sites nationwide, including facilities in Bristol, Peterborough, Bodmin, & Hartlepool collecting and processing metal waste to supply raw materials for steel, aluminium, and copper producers both in the UK and overseas. The Hartlepool operation forms part of this network, meaning any shutdown could have a direct impact on local industry and families.

Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has been leading discussions about the company’s future and has reportedly approached several major steel and metals groups in an effort to strike a rescue deal. However, no agreement has been reached.

The crisis is said to come less than a year after Unimetals completed a £195m takeover of rival Sims Metals. The company is said to have missed at least one deferred payment linked to that deal. Although new funding was said to have been lined up to cover the shortfall, the proposed backer unexpectedly withdrew several weeks ago, sparking the current emergency.

With the company now close to running out of time, workers in Hartlepool and across the UK are now waiting to learn whether they will still have a job..... just four weeks before Christmas.