Stockton call centre deal under fire
THE payment of a £1.9m sweetener to persuade Firstsource to open a contact centre in Middlesbrough could come under scrutiny after it emerged the company was involved in a bid that threatens hundreds of job losses in Stockton.
Regional bosses are understood to be seeking an urgent meeting with Firstsource executives, with whom they have been discussing plans for a £2m contact centre at Fountain Court for nearly a year. Privately they are understood to be irritated they were not informed of negotiations between the Indian-owned group and Barclaycard, which named Firstsource yesterday as the preferred bidder for a contract to operate its call centre function at Stockton where more than 800 people are employed. Firstsource already runs similar services for Barclaycard in the States.
Neither company could rule out the possibility of jobs going to India as a result of a transfer of undertakings but both said it was too early to confirm the future of the staff involved.
The deal is likely to be concluded by August, around the time that Firstsource begins the first round of recruitment for the 500 posts it is required to create under the terms of the £1.87m grant it was offered last December from One North East. The grant, which is understood to be less than that offered by the Welsh Development Agency which was also pitching for the Firstsource centre, was just one of many factors influencing its decision to come to Middlesbrough, the company said.
This morning, Firstsource said it understood the Barclaycard announcement posed “difficult questions”. “But we are prepared for that,” said marketing director Fraida Silver. She said the company had an exemplary track record for job creation in the UK.
“We have grown in Northern Ireland beyond our original expectations. Four years out, we are still there and still growing. We will only receive the grant from One North East for the creation of new jobs - that’s the critical thing.”
In a statement One North East said: “The two announcements are completely separate. We have not been involved in discussions between Firstsource and Barclaycard, which are commercially sensitive negotiations between two private sector companies.”
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