Staff ‘in shock’ as Lloyds says 1,000 Scottish jobs to be axed
most of posts will be in central belt while some may go in Dundee
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Lloyds Banking Group is to axe 1,000 posts in Scotland next year, it was announced yesterday.
The Scottish jobs are among 5,000 UK positions being cut across the group’s operations, insurance and retail divisions by the end of 2010.
Most of the posts to go north of the border will be in the central belt, although it is understood some positions will be lost in Dundee.
Lloyds has already announced 900 redundancies in Scotland this year. The group, which took over HBOS last year, said about 1,000 posts would go in the latest round of job losses, but there would be some redeployment, bringing the number of job losses to about 500.
Lloyds claimed the cuts would be “significantly mitigated” by redeployment and the release of contractors, temporary staff and offshore employees. The group currently employs more than 23,000 people in Scotland.
Ged Nichols, general secretary of Accord, the union representing the largest number of former HBOS employees now working in Lloyds, said yesterday: “Today’s announcement is terrible news for the employees who are affected and their families. We always recognised that some job losses were inevitable as Lloyds TSB integrated HBOS operations, but the scale of changes announced today will leave many staff in shock.”
Finance Secretary John Swinney held talks yesterday with the group’s executive director for Scotland, Archie Kane, and said the government’s finance sector jobs taskforce would help staff who have been laid off.
Mr Swinney said: “I spoke with Archie Kane at Lloyds this morning, and the company has made clear its commitment to work with the taskforce.
“Combined with the work of the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment initiative, this will ensure that staff affected are provided with the employment and retraining opportunities they need to get back into work as quickly as possible.”
Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray criticised First Minister Alex Salmond after the announcement. He said: “Alex Salmond is only too happy to turn up when new jobs are being announced but he ducks his responsibility when jobs in the financial sector are threatened.
“Alex Salmond and John Swinney must meet with Lloyds and the unions as soon as possible. It is Lloyds’ duty to minimise losses and do everything they can to help their people find alternative work and training.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott said: “This drip, drip of cuts has to end. It must be devastating for staff morale. We knew that Scottish jobs would go when Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown changed competition laws to force through Lloyds’ takeover of HBOS.
“But now, almost 12 months on, it’s time for those at the top to put those at the bottom out of their misery. We need to know how many jobs are still at risk and where the axe will fall next.”
An RBS spokesman said it was too early to say how many jobs would go in Scotland in the fresh cuts, but if evenly spread across the UK, 600 Scottish jobs could go .
The loss of 1,000 Scottish bank jobs over the next year proves the LloydsTSB and HBOS merger was “a con”, SNP treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie claimed last night
The Dundee East MP said: “The prime minister has boasted about saving the banks, but it is clear that Scotland is reaping what Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling sowed in terms of the Lloyds takeover of HBOS.”
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