Virgin Media to close Swansea call centre with loss of 800 jobs

Move is part of a plan to halve company's number of customer service centres, from eight to four

The company, which employs 14,000 workers across more than 100 UK sites, said it would invest £40m over the next three years to refurbish centres and acquire new ones (Toby Melville/Reuters)

Virgin Media is closing its Swansea call centre and slashing almost 800 jobs. The telecoms firm said 552 staff positions and 220 subcontractors would go before the site completely shuts down next year.

The move is part of a plan to halve its number of customer service centres, from eight to four: Wythenshawe, Sheffield, Birmingham and Stockton (Teesside). Another centre in Nottingham will also close.

Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Virgin Media, said the company’s investment programme would create “fewer, higher quality work places to better support our people, our business and growing customer base”.

The company, which employs 14,000 workers across more than 100 UK sites, said it would invest £40m over the next three years to refurbish centres and acquire new ones.

“We will be increasing our presence in Wythenshawe, near Manchester, and refurbishing that site,” Mr Mockridge said

“We also propose acquiring a major new building in the Reading/M4 corridor area for our people presently based in Hook, Langley, Slough and Winnersh.

“We also plan to acquire smaller, better sites in Bellshill and Nottingham.”

Swansea council's leader Rob Stewart told the BBC that Virgin Media owed the city “a debt”.

He added: “We believe that Virgin and their contractor Sitel have a bright future in Swansea.

“But if we cannot get this decision overturned we will use a team Swansea approach bringing together Jobcentre Plus and our major employers such as TUi and Admiral to explore all local redeployment opportunities that are available.”

In February, Virgin Media reported a sharp 73 per cent drop in the total number of new subscribers to its TV and internet services.