Lloyds Banking Group is closing its contact centre in Liverpool later this year, forcing around 500 employees at the site to commute to Chester. The bank is also set to cut several hundred jobs.
Lloyds says it is shutting the Liverpool contact centre, which deals with fraud and customer services, as part of a plan to have “fewer, better-equipped” offices.
No jobs are being axed as part of the move, with around 420 employees being asked to relocate to Chester, 25 miles away. The remaining 80 staffers will work remotely.
Dominic Hook, national officer at union Unite, says: “The proposed closure of the large Lloyds Banking Group centre in Liverpool Speke is a huge mistake. The impact on the hundreds of staff and the region will be significant and is wholly unnecessary."
Within hours of the news of the Liverpool closure, it emerged that Lloyds would also be shutting another site in Dunfermline, Scotland, impacting 1500 roles. Employees will be given the option to either work from home or relocate to the Citymark building in Edinburgh.
Separately, the bank is expected to make hundreds of job cuts today, with up to 1300 roles in its consumer relationship division under review, This will include 163 lay-offs in England and Wales as a result of the recently announced branch-sharing plan that will enable customers of Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland to use any of the group's sites.
The group has already announced plans to shutter 55 more branches this year, bringing the total number of outlets across the high street network to 932.