The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Energy jobs to go at Sse’s Errol site
Up to 15 posts will be lost in latest employment blow to hit the area
Energy giant SSE has confirmed it is to cut jobs at its Carse of Gowrie depot in yet another blow for the community.
Carse residents are said to have been left reeling by last month’s decision by Lloyds Bank of Scotland to cut hundreds of posts in Dundee.
The firm has declined to confirm the exact nature of the losses, saying simply that “a small number of staff” would be “impacted by recent structural changes”.
Now it is understood that up to 15 positions will disappear at SSE’s Errol depot – around a third of the workforce.
The changes follow what insiders say has been a period of instability and financial losses at the office.
There is said to have been significant staff turnover in recent times, with as many as two thirds of positions having changed hands over the past three years.
The SNP’s John Swinney MSP and Pete Wishart MP have already been in touch with SSE to receive assurances that they “remain committed” to their workforce in Perthshire.
Each said he was “concerned” about the proposed job losses and their impact.
Carse of Gowrie Conservative councillor Angus Forbes said he would seek “an urgent meeting with SSE” to understand why the cuts are necessary and whether they can be overturned.
Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey, meanwhile, said the news was especially worrying in the wake of Lloyds Banking Group’s decision last month to cut 252 jobs in Dundee, which he said had “impacted residents here”.
In recent years the SSE workforce has expanded and contracted with some regularity as it has reshaped its business offering and responded to national and world trading factors.
In 2013, an end to “cold calling” saw 100 call centre jobs cut in Perth, while the following year 150 roles were cut at its Inveralmond House headquarters in Perth, where around 2,000 staff are employed.
The firm remains one of the city’s most important employers.