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Hachette UK has finally reached an agreement with staff at Chambers Harrap, confirming the Edinburgh office will be closed on 31st December.
The 27 members of staff agreed new "enhanced settlement" redundancy terms this morning (28th October). They will start to leave the business over the next few weeks, having assisted with the changeover to the new arrangements.
The closure of the 191-year-old Scottish firm was first announced more than a month ago, on 15th September, after parent Hachette failed to find a buyer for the Chambers business.
As originally mooted, responsibility for publishing Harrap titles will move to Larousse in Paris and responsibility for Chambers titles will move to within Hodder Education in London. This takes effect from 1st January.
A Hachette spokesperson said: "The decision to close the Edinburgh office of Chambers Harrap has not be taken lightly or quickly. In the light of the steep decline in sales that is affecting sales of printed dictionaries and reference books, we conducted a thorough, independent review into the future of the Chambers Harrap business and concluded that we should move the Harrap business to within Larousse in France, which effectively orphans the Chambers business in Edinburgh where it is not viable on its own.
"We looked long and hard for options before taking the decision to move the publishing to within Hodder Education in London, including trying to find a buyer for Chambers either in Scotland or elsewhere in publishing but none was forthcoming.
"We have enormous respect for the reputation and history of Chambers and Harrap and for the skill and experience of the staff. While the migration online and away from printed dictionaries and reference books may be good for the consumer it is not good news for many people, including publishers and journalists, who have been used to making their living by conveying information that is now available free."
Yesterday, Liam Rodger, father of the NUJ chapel at Chambers told The Bookseller the possibility of the publisher remaining in Edinburgh as part of Hachette UK was "finally completely out of the question".
According to Rodger, the new package "addressed some issues that the NUJ chapel felt strongly about, and it had a financial element as well". He said: "We felt the settlement originally proposed wouldn't recognise the full contribution that has been made by certain members of the staff, and that issue has been resolved."