Britain’s ‘worst boss’ lived life of luxury in £2m mansion – while staff lost their jobs weeks before Christmas
BRITAIN’S “worst boss” lived a life of luxury in a £2million mansion while his struggling staff lost their jobs weeks before Christmas.
David Harper, 42, was the boss of Glasgow-based Go-centric, which collapsed this month, leaving 650 staff out of work.
While his call-centre failed, the businessman was still enjoying lavish holidays abroad and making the most out of his opulent home.
Meanwhile his struggling workers were only being paid around £9 an hour.
Harper, who is said to drive a McLaren sports car, lives in his mansion in Wylam, Northumberland.
The luxurious 4600 sq ft, five-bed detached home has a tennis court and an indoor swimming pool, reports the Daily Record.
In April, just after Go-centric went through a round of redundancies, Harper was at a ski resort in Canada with his family.
Rooms at the pricey mountain resort Fairmount Banff Springs cost around £500 a night.
It was also revealed that Harper’s collapsed firm – which handled Covid test and trace for NHS Scotland – was at the centre of an investigation over data breaches.
Raymond Young, 54, a former member of staff at the firm, which used the motto “Kind Honest People”, slammed his ex-boss.
He said: “It is disgraceful that David Harper earns his living from taxpayer-funded government contracts, pays people low wages, then puts companies into liquidation at no notice, making hard-working people redundant.
“It is in stark contrast to the values he claims to uphold – Kind Honest People? More like unkind.”
Several other employees contacted the Sunday Mail after it was revealed the firm had gone bust just weeks before Christmas, with some questioning how it could have happened.
Another ex-employee, who had worked for Go-centric for a year before losing their job last week, said: “It was a shock and I’m worried about how I will afford anything for Christmas.
“I only got paid about £9 an hour anyway but it’s better than nothing.”
And whistle-blower Raymond alleged data violations, which he claims meant he could listen to sensitive and personal call recordings by members of the public who were being handled by other employees.
Raymond, who was employed between August 2021 and May 2022, reported concerns to the directors and NHS NSS when he realised the serious error.
He said: “I was able to listen to other people’s calls and was worried that if this had happened to me, then it certainly might have been the case with other employees too or even ex-employees.
“It’s sensitive information and there are strict rules about how that information is supposed to be handled and stored.”
According to Raymond, NHS NSS told him they had investigated and found: “Go-centric 8×8 implementation does not comply with all contractual requirements including the storage of call recordings”.
“An on-site visit was scheduled for November, however it is unclear as to whether this went ahead. The firm then closed its doors on December 1.”
8×8 is a call-handling system used by call centre firms.
Raymond said he also uncovered a second blunder after he left the company, when he was able to get access to sensitive information about passport applications using his personal email address.
When logging in to his Microsoft Teams account using his own email, he found he was able to see information about work Go-centric was doing with the Home Office, specifically handling calls to the Passport Office.
He claims to have alerted the Home Office to the error but said he did not receive any reply.
The Sunday Mail asked NHS NSS if it had conducted its planned on-site audit of Go-centric before it closed down but did not receive a response.
Instead, the NHS body said it “worked in partnership” with the firm to “robustly investigate the claims” of a data breach.
Martin Morrison, of NHS Scotland’s National Contact Centre, said: “NHS NSS and Go-centric completed a comprehensive investigation earlier this year after a data breach concern was raised. We found no evidence of any data breach in our digital platforms.”
In August the UK Government granted Go-centric a £1.4million contract to run the Warm Home Discount Scheme despite the record of two firms linked to Harper.
Scottish Lib Dem economy spokesperson Willie Rennie said: “There are huge questions to be answered about misuse of public funds.”
Asked about the data breach concerns, a spokesperson for Go-centric said: “We can confirm an internal review was conducted into alleged access of Go-centric systems by a former employee.
“This was found to be false and was accepted by our clients, whom we worked with openly and transparently. No client system access was found to be attempted.
“At this difficult time, our focus has been on supporting people and saving jobs. Negotiations with our customers have secured jobs and employment opportunities which outnumber the number of people affected by the closure of go-centric.”