Lloyds Banking Group to axe 5,000 posts with hundreds to go in West Yorkshire

Nov 11 2009 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUNDREDS of bank workers in West Yorkshire face the axe as Lloyds Banking Group unveiled plans for further cost cutting – and fears are growing that many Huddersfield people could be among those who will lose their jobs.

The group is set to cut 5,000 posts in the UK next year on top of thousands already scrapped this year.

The latest plans include shedding about 460 jobs in Leeds, where the group has two major operational sites.

A further 70 will go at the Halifax banking business – with most of those cuts coming at the Trinity Road offices in Halifax and a handful being lost at the bank’s Copley data centre.

The Halifax employs many hundreds of people from the Huddersfield and Halifax areas and a considerable number are also thought to work in Leeds.

Staff at high street branches are not affected by the latest staffing cuts which will hit staff at operational level in areas including insurance and mortgages.

The latest jobs announcement drew an angry response from union leaders.

Rob MacGregor, national officer of the Unite union, said the decision demonstrated the depth of “corporate arrogance within this taxpayer-supported bank.”

He said: “This country’s financial sector should be looking towards the future rather than continuing to slash jobs without proper consideration of how to rebuild the public’s confidence in our tarnished banking sector.

“Today marks the start of another dark week for finance workers. It beggars belief that, just days after 5,400 jobs were cut in RBS and HSBC, we see further devastation for workers in this part- nationalised financial institution.”

Mr MacGregor said Unite was seeking a suspension of the job cuts until an agreement could be reached with the company for no compulsory redundancies in any section of Lloyds.

“The Government cannot afford to continue to look the other way as hard-working families are punished in this manner,” he said.