Yorkshire jobs among 500 facing axe by civil service contractor

A NEW private company part-owned by the Government and set up to run civil service back office functions has announced hundreds of job losses, a union said today.

By The Newsroom

Published 4th Mar 2014, 14:24 BST

500 redundancies will hit offices in Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said.

Shared Services Connected Ltd was established last year to handle personal data of staff in the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency as well as information relating to government contracts and tendering.

The union said there were also moves to send some of the work overseas.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Not only is this devastating for the individuals who face being thrown out of work, it will be a major blow for local economies losing hundreds more jobs.

“Despite the Government’s recent claim that it wants businesses to bring jobs back to the UK, ministers appear happy to send civil service work overseas in a cynical move to exploit the inferior pay and employment conditions that workers abroad face.”