Lloyds to axe 410 jobs

Union leaders expressed "alarm" today after banking giant Lloyds announced another wave of hundreds of job losses.

The union said it had been told that 410 jobs will be axed from a customer contact centre in Brighton, just weeks after other job losses were announced by Lloyds in the same area.

National officer Rob MacGregor said: "We are astounded that Lloyds Banking Group has today decided to cut 410 customer contact jobs. This announcement will effectively mean the closure of a significant office in the Brighton region.

"The result of this plan is that in just three weeks 580 Lloyds employees have lost their jobs in this small geographical region.

"Unite is alarmed about the consequence of this strategy by the Lloyds Banking Group. There have been in excess of 15,000 job losses announced since the formation of this organisation."

Lloyds confirmed it was planning to close its Sussex House contact centre next May and transfer work to other sites across the UK.

The bank said the change would affect around 535 jobs, of which 162 will be redeployed, leaving a reduction of 373 jobs.

David Nicholson, of Lloyds Banking Group's retail division, said: "As part of our integration process, we have reviewed our contact centre sites to ensure that we are operating in the best possible way. We recognise that this is difficult news for our affected colleagues.

"We are committed to working closely with them to help them look for other opportunities within the group and elsewhere between now and May next year."

Lloyds said it would try to achieve job losses through voluntary severance and making less use of contractors and agency staff, with compulsory redundancies a "last resort".