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When 300 staff working for Connaught in Norwich lost their jobs earlier this month there was, not surprisingly, a lot of anger.

They marched on the City Hall demanding the council helped them. On the face of it, it couldn't do very much. Connaught was a private company, its collapse had nothing to do with the council.

But behind the scenes councillors were determined to try to sort out the mess as quickly as possible. Talks have been taking place with several companies to try to find someone to take over the housing repair and maintenance work and re-employ those who'd lost their jobs.

Now the council has revealed that it had reached an agreement in principle with another contractor. It was prepared to take on a large number of those who'd lost their jobs.

It seemed the perfect deal and the council was about to announce it - and then the lawyers were called in.

"A QC has warned of the significant risk of a legal challenge if we were to transfer the contract without going to tender," said a statement. "We are very disappointed that legal constraints have prevented our preferred option from going ahead."

The lawyers warned that two other contractors may have mounted a legal challenge, arguing that awarding the contract without going to tender was a breach of procurement law.

"This is hugely frustrating," says Councillor Alan Waters, the chair of the contracts working party. "The money is there, the work is there and the workforce is ready to do it but we cannot go ahead with a common sense solution."

So now all the contracts will have to be put out to tender meaning more uncertainty for those who've lost their jobs. The first temporary contracts will be in place by the middle of November - the more permanent ones will take a year to draw up.

In the meantime the council is doing what it can to help staff. It's taken the names and contact details of 250 former Connaught workers which will be passed on to any future contractor.

For council tenants, life appears to be continuing as normal. Emergency contracts have been placed with firms to carry out repairs. 1,171 repairs have been undertaken this month.

But for those who've lost their jobs - the uncertainty continues.

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