REMPLOY’S Blackburn factory shut this morning for the last time, with none of its 19 disabled workers having found mainstream jobs.

GMB union North West convenor for Remploy Brian Davies said the closure of the 60-year-old Bank Top site was ‘a disgrace’.

The decision to close the factory was taken after there were no viable takeover bids following the Government’s announcement last year that all 27 factories nationally would shut as they were losing £50million annually.

Despite an £8million fund to help find Remploy staff mainstream employment, which has seen two-thirds nationwide get other jobs, no Blackburn workers have succeeded in their search.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said it would continue to support former staff looking for alternative work.

Mr Davies, looking for work himself after 33 years with Remploy, said: “None of Blackburn’s 19 staff have found a mainstream job. It is a tragedy for them.

“This is a government seeking to get people off long-term disability benefits and then throwing Remploy workers on to them.

“These people in Blackburn want to work. It gives them dignity and makes them part of the same society as ordinary working people. None of them will now ever find work again. It is a disgrace.”

The DWP spokesperson said: “We know it is a difficult time for workers at the Blackburn factory. That is why we have put in place an £8million package of employment support for ex-Remploy workers, including a network of 200 personal case workers to help individuals.

“The Government has protected the budget for disability employment services following the independent advice of a disability expert to focus the money on getting in disabled people into mainstream jobs instead of subsidising segregated loss- making factories."

Tim Murdock, who has worked at Blackburn Remploy, which makes school and office furniture, for 26 years, said: “The factory has been like a big family to me so I’m very sad that it’s closing. I’m hopeful I’ll get another job but it’s hard to tell what will happen.”

Nationally, out of 1,300 former Remploy workers, 563 have found work and a further 398 are in training.