Aviva aims to switch quarter of UK jobs to Asia

Aviva, the largest life insurer in the UK, announced plans to outsource another 950 jobs to India and Sri Lanka yesterday, taking its total workforce in Asia to 3,650.

Aviva, the largest life insurer in the UK, announced plans to outsource another 950 jobs to India and Sri Lanka yesterday, taking its total workforce in Asia to 3,650.

The group said there will be a further 150 compulsory redundancies from its UK life business, taking the total number of job cuts in Britain over the past 18 months to about 5,300. Further cuts are expected to follow, with Aviva hoping to boost its Asian workforce to 7,000 within the next three years, consequently cutting its UK staff by some 25 per cent.

The latest job losses will be mainly split between its offices in Norwich and York, with the company vowing to do as much as it can to relocate the other affected employees.

Gary Withers, the chief executive of Norwich Union Life, said: "We operate in very competitive markets where customers continually seek better value for money and quality of service. The experience of our existing offshore operations shows that the service levels in India continue to match those that we achieve in our UK operations. Expanding our offshore operations will give us the increased capacity we need."

But the union Amicus condemned yesterday's news, saying that it revealed Aviva's true colours.