Aviva to cut 1,600 jobs with closure of broker subsidiary

The
UK’s largest insurer, Aviva, is closing its national broker subsidiary Hill
House Hammond with the loss of 1,600 jobs.

Aviva,
which operates under the Norwich Union brand, said there would be about 1,200
compulsory job losses.

Patrick
Snowball, Norwich Union Insurance’s chief executive, said Hill House Hammond
would be closed by the end of 2004 and its motor, home and travel insurance
business would be transferred to Aviva’s Norwich Union Direct.

A
spokesman for Amicus, the main union for insurance workers, said that workers
at Hill House Hammond were not represented by a trade union because Aviva would
not allow it.

"This
is another example of a company that does not recognise trade unions being able
to make wholesale redundancies without any comeback," he said.

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Late
last year, Aviva said it was moving about 2,350 jobs to India, joining a host
of UK financial services groups who have offshored jobs.

By Mike Berry