Liberty Speciality Steel has collapsed into administration after a winding-up petition in the High Court, placing one of the UK’s most strategically important steelmaking businesses under government control.
The South Yorkshire-based company, which employs around 1,450 people, will now be managed by special officials appointed by the Government’s Official Receiver. Liberty Speciality Steel supplies high-grade steel products to critical sectors including aerospace, defence, power generation, oil and gas, and rail. Its specialist alloys are used in everything from aircraft carriers and military aircraft landing gear to turbines and control systems.
The collapse marks another major blow for the UK’s struggling steel industry. Recent years of low production volumes have left gaps in the domestic supply chain, forcing manufacturers to rely on imports.
Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, welcomed the government’s intervention but urged urgent action to secure the future of the plants.
“We hope a new owner is found quickly who can inject the investment and working capital required to return production volumes to previous levels,” he said. “These assets produce high-quality, specialist steels for high-value markets. The Government must continue to push on trade defence and reduce energy costs so that the business, and the wider UK steel ecosystem, becomes sustainable.”
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national officer at the GMB union, described the news as “another tragedy for UK steel – and the people of South Yorkshire – this time brought on by years of chronic mismanagement by the owners.”
However, she added that the government now had a chance to intervene decisively: “This represents an opportunity for the Government to take decisive action, as it did with British Steel, to protect this vital UK industry.”
The Government has yet to announce next steps, but with the assets now in public hands, ministers face mounting pressure to ensure the continuation of steelmaking in Sheffield and Rotherham. The future of more than a thousand highly skilled jobs, as well as the security of UK supply chains for defence and energy, is at stake.