Staff at a recession-hit firm have been asked to do charity work and training for four weeks because of a slump in orders.

Production is being stopped at Caterpillar (UK), of Desford, for the last two weeks in February and the final two weeks of March.

Bosses said the move followed a sharp fall in demand for its construction equipment and comes after they announced up to 99 job cuts last month.

The 570 shopfloor workers at the firm's Building Construction Products (BCP) division will continue on full pay during the two periods and will carry out training and charity activities.

It is believed to be at least a decade since the factory last halted production because of falling orders.

A spokesman said: "Non-production periods at BCP Leicester, as a result of unfavourable market conditions, have not happened in recent times.

"There will be two non-production periods, each of two weeks' duration, to be held in February and March respectively.

"During these periods, employees will come to work as usual and remain on full pay but will undertake a range of activities other than building machines.

"Employees will participate in various training courses and continuous improvement activities as well as conducting charitable and community-based activities."

Leicester businessman Dennis Kent, vice-president of the Engineering Employers' Federation's Midlands branch, said the move highlighted the problems faced by major manufacturers.

"It shows how bad the situation is, but the positive thing is they are continuing to pay staff during these periods and hanging on to key skills while they negotiate the challenging climate," he said.

Tom Sawyer, regional officer at the Unite union, which represents Caterpillar workers, said: "There will be non-production days, but people are still going to go in and be paid. It is in response to the current situation in the economy.

"They will be training and looking at ways of improving efficiencies. It is going to be a useful use of time."

In recent months there has been a string of cutbacks at the company, which axed about 120 jobs in July after laying off 320 temporary workers a month before.

Hundreds of job losses have been announced by county companies in the past week, including at Alliance & Leicester and engineering firm Commatech, which closed on Christmas Eve with the loss of 90 jobs.