Lloyds is to cut another 2,113 jobs across the country leaving employees in a “permanent state of anxiety”, according to unions.
Lloyds Banking Group today announced further restructuring plans in its group operations and wholesale divisions, which will see 2,113 jobs closed over the next three years. The announcement brings the total number of jobs to be lost at the banking group to more than 7,000 since January.
One third of the jobs (700) will be shed through natural attrition and the release of contract and agency workers, and the group will create another 350 jobs which will offset some of the losses.
“Morale is now truly low as employees across Lloyds are in a permanent state of anxiety as they see their employer announce hundreds of job losses every week. This Labour government can not afford to turn the other way as bank workers across the country are losing their jobs.”
MacGregor said he would press for there to be no compulsory redundancies. He added that Lloyds had agreed not to offshore any further roles in the commercial and group operations’ areas.
“However, we have called for an urgent review of all the Lloyds work being done offshore in order to access how this could be done in the UK in order to protect jobs,” he said.
Lloyds said the changes include combininga number of operational support functions, including payment, business services and banking operations.
The wholesale division will merge its Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland businesses.
A Lloyds statement said: “Following these changes, up to about 2,100 roles will be affected over the next three years. This number is mitigated by the creation of about 350 new roles in the wholesale division.
“The group is also announcing its decision not to offshore any further permanent existing operational roles, therefore keeping roles in the UK whenever possible.”
All affected workers were briefed by their line managers today. Unions Accord, LTU, GMB and Unite were consulted before the announcement and will continue to be consulted throughout the process, the bank said.
The new jobs will be created in the bank’s commercial, corporate, finance and risk operations divisions.
Mark Fisher, director, group operations, said: “By bringing the businesses together, we will be better placed for the future. Regrettably however, some of our colleagues will be affected by our plans. We understand that this difficult news will be unsettling and we will be working closely with those colleagues affected.”
