THE closure of Wellington’s largest employer has been postponed until early next year.

Canadian firm KDC/One initially said the Swallowfield aerosols and cosmetics business in Station Road would be shut down by December this year.

Now, town councillors have been told the factory will not close its doors until late January, 2027, when the last of the 250 jobs will disappear.

The firm is relocating the business to Barony Universal, in Ayrshire, Scotland, which it bought two months before announcing the Wellington closure.

Former Wellington Mayor Cllr Janet Lloyd, who is an ex-Swallowfield employee, said redundancies among the workforce were being split into three phases.

Cllr Lloyd said 20 employees left in February and March of this year, and another 56 were made redundant at the start of July.

She said a further 130 staff would be made redundant on January 29 next year, the last day on which the factory would be open.

Meanwhile, the town council has been involved in putting together a package of support for those losing their jobs in the hope of helping them to find alternative employment.

Cllr Lloyd said the council’s Pop Up Shop, in Fore Street, was hosting three days of drop-in and workshop sessions on Tuesday to Thursday, July 14 to 16 to ‘give further assistance to the employees one week after their redundancy’.

She said the Pop Up Shop support would also be available to help anybody else in the community who might be losing their jobs.

Cllr Lloyd said she attended on-site redundancy support sessions along with Somerset Council’s economic development team which KDC/One had given staff time to attend.

She said two staff surveys on the needs of the employees had been undertaken, although the latest in May saw quite a low response.

More support was planned from September onward for the remaining employees.