Barclays sheds 50 jobs

Oct 4 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

MORE than 50 Barclays Bank staff have lost their jobs after their department was shifted from Newcastle to Manchester.

The Legal Notices Team, based in the city office in Percy Street, has been relocated to Barclays’ Consumer Lending site in Manchester with the loss of 51 jobs in Newcastle.

Barclays insisted that the redundancies had nothing to do with the present turmoil in the banking world and were part of its regular efforts to make the business more efficient.

“As a big organisation Barclays regularly looks to improve customer service and streamline processes and the review has nothing to do with the current economic environment – we have been working with all impacted staff to look at redeployment opportunities and provide internal and external training for those wishing to pursue roles requiring different skills,” said Karen Swainston, Barclays’ head of community relations, North East.

Staff were informed about the closure of the unit in June and the jobs were shed at the end of September. Workers were told not to contact the press about the job losses.

“With regard to contact with the media, Barclays, like all PLCs do have processes in place for dealing with media enquiries,” said Ms Swainston.

Brian Cole, regional officer of the Unite union with responsibility for the financial sector, said: “It’s more jobs going out of the North East. Any job losses are bad for the North East economy, especially in the financial sector after Northern Rock.”