CHURCHILL owner Direct line warned of another 2,000 job cuts as it revealed cost-cutting plans to close three UK sites.
The UK’s biggest motor insurer said it would axe sites in Liverpool, Croydon and central London by the end of the year.
It is consulting with staff over job losses across its entire 16-strong network of sites – with head office and support functions the hardest hit in the latest round of redundancies.
The group said it hoped to redeploy some of the affected 2,000 staff where possible and also find opportunities with other potential employers.
The job cuts, representing about 14% of its 14,400-strong workforce, come as Direct Line announced it is more than doubling its original cost savings target to over £200m by 2014, or £130m a year on a net basis.
Direct Line, which also has a site at Leeds, has already shed 1,200 jobs since last August under the cost-cutting drive and is shutting its Teesside call centre over the next week, as previously announced.
Nearly 500 staff work at the Liverpool site that is due to close, while about 240 are employed in Croydon and just under 400 at the London office earmarked to shut.
It hopes to transfer some of the Liverpool staff to Manchester, while a number of workers at Croydon and in London will transfer to its headquarters in Bromley.
Unite said the planned job losses were a “savage bolt from the blue” and slammed Direct Line for refusing to recognise the trade union.
Dominic Hook, Unite national officer for finance, said: “Unite will continue to strongly oppose anti-union bias where it exists in the finance sector and will give all the support we can to our members at Direct Line on an individual basis.
“The Government’s claim that the economy is out of intensive care will have a hollow ring for those at Direct Line who face the dole queue.”
Paul Geddes, chief executive of Direct Line Group, insisted the firm had “not made these proposed changes lightly”.
He said: “As we have done in the past, we will deal fairly and carefully with those impacted and do all we can to support them through these changes.”
