100 jobs to go as axe falls at Yorkshire firm

The company, a subsidiary of the Skipton Building Society, told staff the news yesterday. The roles will be axed across HML's five offices in UK and Ireland.

A spokeswoman for HML said: "We are going to look at where we are and where we need to be.

"The business is successful, but we need to act now to resize the company and build a next- generation, third-party administrator that is able to grasp market opportunities.

"Times are tough. In normal market times we would have expected natural attrition to deliver some of the cost savings, but the last couple of years have not been normal market conditions."

HML will start a 90-day consultation period tomorrow. The spokeswoman said jobs would go across all sites and all levels.

HML employs 2,000 people in total, including 840 at its Skipton headquarters, 200 in Glasgow, 480 in Derry, 140 in Scarborough and 480 in Burnley.

The company manages 47bn worth of mortgage loans on behalf of 35 banking clients. Turnover last year was 84m, with a pre-tax profit of 4m.

In January Skipton Building Society said it was axing 90 jobs at its head office in Skipton and a satellite centre in Scarborough, citing the long-term interests of the mutual.