190 jobs to go in Leicester as bank closes call centre
Nearly 200 bank jobs could be lost when a call centre closes its doors.
Lloyds Banking Group, which was recently bailed out with billions of pounds in taxpayers' cash, has announced plans to shed 5,000 jobs across the country.
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Hearts of Oak House, Princess Road West, Leicester, where Lloyds TSB staff are to be made redundant
Among the offices affected will be the collections and recoveries office in Princess Street West in the city centre, with the loss or redeployment of 190 jobs.
The work of the call centre will be moved to other Lloyds Banking Group call centres in the north.
Members of staff at the call centre said they were shocked by the announcement.
One 30-year-old employee and father-of-one said: "We were told officially on Tuesday – everything stopped and they made the announcement.
"With things the way they are, I will need to find something else quickly. You can't live on just one wage when you've got a mortgage and you're paying out £700 to £800 month."
Another 34-year-old employee said he had two children to support. He said: "It has left everyone feeling very upset and angry.
"Now it's time to look out for ourselves and to show the company the same level of loyalty it has shown to us."
A company spokesman said the bank would do its best to find the staff new jobs. He said: "The collections and recoveries office in Princess West Street is part of our group operations function. It's being moved to a call site in Chester, with other roles moving back to our head office in Leeds. There are 190 roles that will be affected.
"The company's focus is redeployment and we will be seeing if there are any other Lloyds sites or other companies in the Leicester area where there are vacancies."
Elsewhere, the bank will be shedding jobs in offices around the UK, with West Yorkshire and Belfast also hit hard.
Lloyds Banking Group was formed by the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS – the group that owns Halifax and the Bank of Scotland. But since the merger in September last year, the "superbank" has struggled.
Bad loans on HBOS's books led to the Government pumping in £17 billion and taking a 43% stake in the bank.
A further Government bailout of £13.5 billion for Lloyds Banking Group was agreed last week.
The Leicester call centre was formerly owned by HBOS.
Peter Gallagher from Accord, the union representing former HBOS employees, said: "It is a devastating blow for both the people that work there and for Leicester as it loses a major employer.
"People are understandably unhappy and very worried.
"We will be working with Lloyds Banking Group between now and next September to try and redeploy staff.
"Employees have now got a schedule that takes them through to the end of next September so some of the uncertainty they have had since September last year has lifted.
"While it's not good news, at least they know what the future holds."
The news comes as the latest jobless figures were announced.
At the end of October, 25,222 people were on job seekers allowance in Leicestershire.
The figure is 337 more than last month and twice as much as it was in June 2008.
10 Comments
by Robert Jamieson, Notts
Thursday, November 12 2009, 3:59PM
“John, Glenfield
Why on earth would they stop lending to businesses - that's where much of their profit comes from!
Robert”
by Peter, Leicester
Thursday, November 12 2009, 1:40PM
“Sorry typo, my comment below should have read
Also they say staff have until September next year however mark my words these poor people will be made redundant by April 2010”
by nik, leics
Thursday, November 12 2009, 1:23PM
“Lloyds tsb are getting worse, my local branch had one member of staff working yesterday and the queue was to the door! Hate going in there its always the same!”
by West End Girl, leicester
Thursday, November 12 2009, 1:16PM
“Peter, you are absolutely right. Tax payers money went into Lloyds to protect jobs and ordinary people's savings. The workers at Lloyds should not be the ones paying for the mistakes of people at the top. The work is still there, it's not as if no one needed to call the bank. The work is being moved to the north. This is about putting profit before the livelihood of the staff.”
by Peter, Leicester
Thursday, November 12 2009, 12:59PM
“Collections and recoveries office! These are the very people who are bringing in money for the banks and recollecting debt who are being made to suffer while the rich bankers are enjoying their lavish lifestyles and high wages. Lloyds you should be ashamed of yourselves, you are 43% owned by the taxpayer and because of your arrogance, people's lives are affected. From what I've heard about the redeployment, it isn't direct as staff will be reinterviewed and there is no guarantee of financial assistance should staff wish to move to Leeds or Chester. Also they say staff have until September next year however mark my words these poor people will be made redundant by April 2011. Another 200 people out of work, which leads me to think what is so "Great " about Great Britain?”
by Jason, Ratby
Thursday, November 12 2009, 12:49PM
“Paul from Hamilton. That it blame the Government, what do you expect the Government to actual do ? Safe guards everyones jobs ?
The company is restructuring to reduce overheads, and to continue competiting in the very competitive market. It's a shame job will be lost, but no jobs for life.”
by I've had enough, Leicester
Thursday, November 12 2009, 12:20PM
“And yet Goldman Sachs is set to award its employees more than 20 Billion - Yes BILLION in performance related bonuses this year.....”
by Paul, Hamilton
Thursday, November 12 2009, 11:29AM
“It is not just the bankers fault- what were the government doing while all this was happening?
Nothing by the looks of it!”
by John, Glenfield
Thursday, November 12 2009, 11:10AM
“This is only the start.
Wait until quantative easing (ie printing money to pay the bills) ends and watch what happens.
The banks will reduce business lending to rebuild their balance sheets with the inevitable result that there will be more private firms closing.
The public sector won't escape either for 1 in 3 of them will have be sacked in order for the country to have a CHANCE of repaying the 1 TRILLION pounds the bankers have soaked up.”
by Pete, Wigston
Thursday, November 12 2009, 9:45AM
“Selfish rich bankers have much to answer for, while the less well off lose their jobs. The same is true of bosses of manufacturing companies who transfer manufacturing jobs abroad to make more profit. Ordinary hard working people always lose out.”