Another 360 jobs to go at bailed-out Lloyds

Unite said the move will hit the 500 affected employees hard and increase the workload on staff who remain.

The bank has announced 27,500 job losses since the integration between LloydsTSB and HBOS started in January 2009.

The 360 job losses will affect staff in the company’s group functions, wholesale, retail and insurance divisions as part of its “ongoing integration programme”, while 140 workers will transfer to State Street under a new investment accounting outsourcing arrangement.

Among the latest losses are an estimated 40 in Halifax and 25 in Leeds, although redeployment could reduce the figure.

“Lloyds Banking Group is committed to working through these changes with employees in a careful and sensitive way. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager today,” the bank said.

“The group’s policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering voluntary severance. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort.”

David Fleming, national officer of Unite, said: “Lloyds Banking Group has today told its already diminished workforce that another 360 jobs are to be lost and 140 people will be transferred to another company.

“The news will hit the 500 affected employees hard and many will already have seen significant cuts in their department and team, bringing increased pressures and workloads.

“Unite is urging LBG to offer all the staff involved redeployment opportunities. We believe that this is a workable solution and every effort must be made to make it possible.”

Ged Nichols, general secretary of the Accord union, said the job losses would “further sap the morale” of the remaining employees.

“Accord believes the new management team should put a halt to further redundancies whilst they re-evaluate the plans of the former management. They should give a renewed focus to customer service delivered by professional and motivated staff.

“Accord has also made it absolutely clear to the bank that we see no need for any compulsory redundancies to achieve the desired job reductions and that the union expects the bank to seek deployment wherever possible rather than making further redundancies.”