Barclays has announced a major staff shake-up affecting more than 1,000 workers including the closure of a site in Leeds.
Plans to permanently shut the Leeds site by the end of the year will affect 800 staff, 200 of whom will be cut outright. A further 90 contractors will lose their jobs. Most of the job cuts at the Leeds processing centre are expected to have an impact on technology, operations teams and some customer service staff.
It’s understood that 270 of the remaining 510 roles are being shifted to Manchester and Sunderland. Barclays is offering financial support for relocations but has not disclosed how much it is offering to staff who may be asked to move their families up to 90 miles away.
Barclays is offering another 100 of the affected workers in Leeds the option to work from home or at other Barclays locations in the area. Barclays has not confirmed its plans for the remainder of the processing centre’s workers, accounting for about 140 staff.
The bank is putting a further 340 staff on notice for job cuts or relocations across the country. About 50 of those jobs will be cut outright, while the remainder will shift to other sites including Glasgow and Northampton. The majority of the affected staff are in Coventry, where about 157 roles are at risk.
A Barclays spokesman said: “In order to drive collaboration, Barclays is moving teams closer together at our UK sites in Glasgow, Greater Manchester and Northampton; where we are investing in new campuses and office space.
“This will enable us to innovate at pace for the customers and clients we serve. We will do everything we can to support colleagues impacted by the changes announced today.”
The Unite trade union criticised Barclays’ decision to close the Leeds office, which has been blamed on the landlord’s plans to sell the site to housing developers.
Dominic Hook, a national officer for Unite the union, said: “The sheer scale of the job cuts announced today by Barclays is alarming. The decision to close the major Barclays site in Leeds will be devastating for the workforce and the local community.
“Unite has argued for some time that the bank has a social responsibility not to walk away from its committed workforce in Leeds. Today is indeed a dark day for nearly 800 people who have worked relentlessly to deliver the highest customer service for Barclays customers.”
