15 jobs lost at Buy As You View

A COMPANY which supplies electrical appliances to tens of thousands of Welsh homes has made some workers redundant.

Bridgend-based finance company Buy As You View (BAYV) has confirmed that after a “challenging year” 15 people have been made redundant from its head office in the town.

But the firm – which was ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to pay customers a total of almost £1m compensation last March – said it has worked hard to redeploy staff within the business, where possible.

It said others have already found new jobs and that it has helped them to “transition into new employment” by bringing the Jobcentre into the business.

In March, Dunraven Finance, trading as rentto-own provider BAYV, agreed with the FCA to pay more than 59,000 customers compensation payouts totalling £939,000 for what the regulator termed unfair treatment.

Among the FCA’s concerns about the business which employs 700 people – 250 in Bridgend – were the use of payment meters to restrict a customer’s access to the TV when payments were not received on time.

As a result, BAYV made changes to the way it uses payment meters and changed the way it operates.

BAYV chief executive officer Andy Russell said: “The last trading year has presented many challenges and to meet these, we reviewed and made changes to our business model so we are best placed to serve our customers more effectively and have a sustainable future.

“A number of redundancies have been made after undertaking a comprehensive consultation period with those affected towards the end of 2016 and in the New Year.

“Where possible we have tried to offer alternative employment and are pleased that many have been able to stay on within the business or already find new jobs elsewhere.”