Crown Agents employees in South Sudan say they are missing tens of thousands of dollars in social security that the company was holding for them when it collapsed.
Three employees that Devex has spoken to are collectively owed more than $100,000, which in some cases was built up over years of employment.
“I lost everything,” one said. “It is my entire future.”
It is believed the issue affects about a dozen international staff, mostly from other African countries, who were employed by Crown Agents in South Sudan.
In accordance with local law, Crown Agents deducted 8% of the employees’ salaries for social security and also made employer contributions of 17%. This money was held by Crown Agents and should have been given to the employees at the end of their employment.
But that didn’t happen when the company collapsed suddenly at the beginning of August. The employees said they have been left in limbo, with no communication about the fate of their funds or what might happen next.
One of the largest suppliers of services to the U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has closed its doors after almost 200 years.
Those that have contacted the liquidation agencies have received generic advice indicating that they are not eligible for redundancy payments because they are not U.K. nationals or suggesting that they register as creditors.
However, as the former staffer stressed: “We are not asking for a benefit [compensation], we are asking for our savings.”
The employees say they had no knowledge of the problems the company was facing. Some had had their contracts extended as recently as a week or two before the insolvency was announced.
“I am feeling that we have been robbed because it [the money] was deducted from our salary,” the same staffer said. The funds should have been returned when their contracts finished but “they were extending and extending [the contracts] and finally … they disappeared.”
He had wanted to use the money to send his children to university, he added.
The staff were working on the South Sudan Health Pooled Fund, which delivered a range of support including reproductive care and immunization in close collaboration with South Sudan’s Ministry of Health. It was funded by the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and a consortium of other donors.
The staff say they are proud of what they achieved under the program and were dismayed by its abrupt closure.
“We saved millions of lives,” said the staffer. “We are proud of that. But when finally you’re treated like that, you feel down.”
It is part of a broader frustration that international staff do not have access to the same protections as U.K. staff, for example when it comes to redundancy pay.
“I don’t think we are being treated fairly and equally,” another former staffer said. There is “no clarity” about the status of international staff within the process or how to proceed with claims, they added. “We are left in the middle of nowhere.”
Devex contacted the liquidators, Kroll, about the social security fund but a spokesperson said it was still too early in the process to be able to comment.
About the author
Jessica Abrahams@jiabrahams
Jessica Abrahams is a former editor of Devex Pro. She helped to oversee news, features, data analysis, events, and newsletters for Devex Pro members. Before that, she served as deputy news editor and as an associate editor, with a particular focus on Europe. She has also worked as a writer, researcher, and editor for Prospect magazine, The Telegraph, and Bloomberg News, among other outlets. Based in London, Jessica holds graduate degrees in journalism from City University London and in international relations from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals.
