450 jobs to be axed in move to hit back office staff

LLOYDS BANKING Group is to axe 450 jobs in a move that will mainly affect back office staff.

The lender chalked the move up to organisational changes that will help it “adapt and evolve to support changes in customer behaviour”.

A spokeswoman said branch closures were not on the cards and the decision was in line with its current strategy. Lloyds said it was also creating 255 new roles as part of the shake-up, and focused on a net figure of 195 job losses.

Lloyds said it would try to redeploy affected staff where possible.

“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,” the bank said. “Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, we will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort.

“Today’s announcement involves making difficult decisions and we are committed to working through these changes in a careful and sensitive way.”

The bank said it was all part of a £3bn investment aimed at “new technology and people, equipping teams with the specific skills required to advise and support our customers.”

It is the latest in a string of announcements from Lloyds that have seen the overhaul its workforce and branch network in recent months.

In April, Lloyds announced it was slashing 1,230 jobs across its branch network and some central functions.

The decision was part of plans to shutter a further 49 branches across its Lloyds and Halifax brands between July and October this year.

Lloyds said in April that it was creating 925 roles elsewhere in the business and was adding another seven mobile branches to its network to offset the closures.

The lender last year confirmed would shut 100 branches with hundreds of jobs being impacted, while in February, it announced another 465 roles were being cut.

Jobs cuts have been accelerated in the wake of the bank’s full privatisation last year. The Government sold its remaining stake in Lloyds in May 2017 following its bailout at the height of the financial crisis nine years earlier.