Building society cuts 55 staff in closures

YORKSHIRE BUILDING Society ( YBS) is to close six branches in Yorkshire, making 55 staff redundant.

The closures will hit branches in Batley, Holmfirth, Lindley and Slaithwaite in Huddersfield, Penistone, and South Elmsall. It proposes closing all six Yorkshire branches in February.

In total, YBS is closing 12 UK branches.

A spokesperson said: “A total of 152 colleagues have been impacted as a result of the proposed changes announced today. We are hoping to minimise job losses by redeploying about 20 per cent of impacted colleagues to other roles within the society.

“We are committed to supporting all colleagues impacted by these changes and will be working closely with these colleagues to provide help with identifying further opportunities that may enable them to remain with the society, or find a new role outside of the business.”

YBS said it is reducing its high street network in areas where it is highly concentrated.

The society said South Elmsall has four other YBS branches and agencies within nine miles and its next nearest branch is less than seven miles away in Ropergate, Pontefract.

It said the proposed changes to its high street network are designed to improve value for its members by delivering greater efficiency.

The society is planning to reshape its branch network to deliver “good value to its membership as a whole”.

YBS said the closures and redundancies are not related to Covid- 19.

The spokesperson said: “These proposals have not been influenced by the short term changes in customer behaviour we’ve seen as a result of Covid- 19.”