YORKSHIRE Water is set to axe up to 100 jobs, it has been revealed.

The company is seeking volunteers for redundancy from its 2,000-strong workforce.

But it denied the job cuts were related to the imminent £3bn takeover of parent group Kelda by business consortium Saltaire Water, which includes financial institutions Citigroup and HSBC.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said: “The planned changes taking place within Yorkshire Water's water business unit are in no way related to the takeover of Kelda.

“Yorkshire Water had already taken the decision to restructure the business to enable more focus on providing excellent customer service and on driving innovation and new ideas.

“The people changes are part of this process of restructuring.”