HUNDREDS of workers at a biscuit factory will lose their jobs – but their factory has been spared from closure for now.

Some 200 staff will go from Fox’s Biscuits in Batley as owner Northern Foods invests in robot technology.

However, a plan which could have seen the closure of the Wellington Street plant – which employs 950 people – was put on hold yesterday.

A final decision will be made in the coming months.

Leeds-based Northern Foods announced the job cuts yesterdayTUES as part of a £26.5m investment in robot technology.

As well as the job losses in Batley, some 100 of the 850 staff at the Fox’s factory in Uttoxeter in Staffordshire will also be made redundant.

However, the company’s plant at Kirkham in Lancashire will expand from 400 to 480 staff.

Fox’s announced yesterday that plans to close the factory in either Batley or Uttoxeter had been put on hold.

Last July the company announced a £50m plan for a hi-tech factory in one of the two plants with the other to close.

However, the closure has been delayed because of the uncertain economic conditions.

Northern Foods still plans to cut its number of sites from three to two in the next 18 months.