It has been a year since the final blast furnace at Port Talbot was shut down, marking the end of 100 years of primary steel making at the site. The closure of blast furnace four on September 30, 2024, resulted in thousands of job losses, with Tata Steel announcing 2,800 redundancies. According to a letter from the Welsh Government, 2,162 people have left the business between September 2024 and July 2025, with 709 leaving through natural attrition, 1,332 taking voluntary redundancy, and 120 leaving via compulsory redundancy.
To support those affected by the job losses, the UK Government provided £80m in funding for various schemes, including a retraining program for employees who were made redundant. However, the uptake of this program has been low, with only four people completing a month’s training. Community the Union has reported that 2,587 people have attended their help hub, and some events have taken place to help people explore new career opportunities.
The UK Government has also established several funds to support businesses and individuals affected by the transition at the Tata Steel site. These include the Business Growth Fund, which provides grants of £25,000 to £300,000 to help businesses grow and create new jobs, and the Resilience Fund, which offers non-repayable grants of £2,500 to £50,000 to support local businesses. Additionally, a Business Start-up Fund provides grants of up to £50,000 to support individuals who want to start their own business or become self-employed.
Tata Steel is moving towards a new way of steel making, with a new electric arc furnace due to open by the end of 2027. The company has received £500m in funding from the UK Government to support this transition. While the closure of the blast furnace has had a significant impact on the local community, the various support schemes and funds in place aim to help those affected and promote economic growth in the region. As of now, there have been 133 registrations for the Business Growth Fund, 158 enquiries for the Resilience Fund, and 219 clients interested in starting a business through the Business Start-up Fund.