Unions slam Abbey for ‘insensitive’ feedback request to redundant staff

High-street bank Abbey has been criticised by former employees and unions after it asked staff who had been forced out of their jobs less than six months ago to share their experiences.

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The company wrote to more than 1,000 ex-employees, who were discarded in May following the £9bn takeover by the Spanish bank Santander.
Abbey, which has confirmed plans to cut more jobs in addition to the 4,000 redundancies already made after the takeover, said it would be using the information to improve the performance of the company currently charged with finding jobs for redundant staff. Analysts believe the bank could cut another 2,500 jobs in the next two years, as Santander attempts to achieve savings of £300m.

Former Abbey staff accused the bank of being “insensitive”, and the finance arm of the Amicus union said the letters were “typical of Abbey since its takeover by Santander”.