Lloyds confirms 70 insurance jobs at risk in Newport
Banking group Lloyds has confirmed that around 70 insurance jobs in Newport are at risk following a restructure.
The news comes after the company announced 200 job losses across the UK, mainly in its insurance division.
The firm has around 900 employees at its office in Tredegar Park, Newport. Staff were told of the news on Tuesday.
The banking group said that some of the staff may be redeployed within the business.
There will now be a period of statutory consultation.
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson 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.
"By making less use of contractors and agency employees it reduces the impact on permanent staff.
"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.
"The overwhelming majority of role reductions has been achieved through redeployment, natural turnover, closing vacancies, expiry of temporary contracts and voluntary redundancy."
The part-nationalised group has now axed 26,200 jobs and said these latest cuts were part of its "ongoing integration programme".
David Fleming, national officer of the Unite union, called for the banking group's new boss, Antonio Horta-Osorio, to step in and stop the latest cuts.
"It is inexcusable that, while he is one of the best-paid executives in Britain with a pay package of £8.3m a year, staff earning an average salary of less then £20,000 are joining the dole queues," Mr Fleming said.
Unite said the job losses will be from the Lloyds' group operations, general insurance and wholesale divisions in Chester, Leicester, Edinburgh, Newport, Copley in West Yorkshire and Shannon.
Newport West AM Rosemary Butler urged the banking group to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.
"This is yet another blow to the economy of Newport," she said.
"It emphasises how important it is to keep the Passport Office in Newport.
"I hope that Lloyds will do everything possible to save all the remaining jobs there and that if people do have to go it really will be on a voluntary basis. "