Npower confirms 1,460 British jobs in outsourcing to India

Work will be outsourced to Capita and Tata Consultancy Services

Npower is set to alienate its customers further with plans to cut UK jobs and hike prices from Sunday (PA)

The big six energy provider npower defended plans to cut nearly 1,500 jobs and transfer another 550 positions to a third party today, insisting that its customers would benefit from the move.

The company confirmed it would cut nearly 1,460 “back office” jobs in the UK, or 15% of its staff in this country, and move them to India. It is outsourcing a further 540 British call centre jobs to Capita.

The move would see npower’s offices in Stock on Trent closing, with the loss of about 550 jobs, with a further roles being cut at one of its three offices in Oldbury. Another 430 positions will be axed at its Rainton Bridge office in Sunderland and a further 80 in Leeds.

It comes in the week after npower was named the UK’s most-complained about energy provider and was immediately denounced as bad for its customers, who are bracing themselves for a 10.4% price hike on Sunday.

Ann Robinson, of the uSwitch price comparison website, said: “I am a bit concerned about the quality of service that people will get. Years ago, E.ON outsourced jobs to India but they were forced to bring them back because of the poor service.”

But npower chief executive Paul Massara insisted that customers would benefit from the move.

“This restructure is necessary if we are to deliver the levels of service our customers deserve. All calls would still be answered in the UK. We would have the flexibility to keep call waiting times down during busy periods, and continue to keep costs down so we can keep bills down,” he said.

By transferring existing npower staff to Capita, they could use the outsoucing group’s extra capacity to handle calls at peak times, Massara said.

However, GMB Northern Region Senior Organiser Colin Smith disagreed that the restructuring would be good for customer service.

“GMB will vigorously campaign against the offshoring of jobs to India because it has absolutely nothing to do with customer service and everything to do with cost,” he said.

The announcement continues a week in which the big six energy providers have been centre stage. Official figures showed on Tuesday that more than 31,000 people had died needlessly during last winter’s freeze, of which about 10,00 are estimated to have been due to cold homes. Meanwhile, Andrew Wright, the head of the Ofgem energy regulator, told politicians there was a “deep mistrust of anything the energy companies do or say.”