Barclays Bank is closing a major processing centre in Leeds with nearly 800 jobs impacted and cutting another 345 jobs across the country.
Barclays has today informed around 800 staff in its Millshaw Court office that the centre will permanently close by the end of the year, with the lease on the site coming to an end in 2021.
Two hundred full time roles and 90 contractors will be slashed outright. Seventy staff will be offered redeployment in the city, while a further 270 roles are being relocated to Manchester and Sunderland.
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.
In a further blow, Barclays has also announced a further 345 job losses across the country including 157 in Coventry. The Barclays Coventry workforce has already faced a large number of job losses in recent years. Of this number around 15 of the roles are being transferred to India, and 20 people will work remotely from home.
Labour union Unite expressed its dismay at the announcement.
Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, says: “The sheer scale of the job cuts announced today by Barclays is alarming. This is clearly a time of immense uncertainty and worry for the workforce. The union is working with Barclays to put into place every possible remedy to support the staff in finding suitable alternative employment and offering advice and support to assist colleagues, including redeployment wherever possible.”
The latest round of job cuts follows recent announcements of major UK bank staff losses at Lloyds and HSBC.