Yahoo Finance Lloyds to move 1,000 Scottish Widows staff to outsourcing firm
Lloyds Banking Group has told staff it is moving 1,000 jobs to an outsourcing arm of Indian conglomerate Tata, in a move slammed by union Unite as “a betrayal”.
The transfer affects staff based in the Bristol and Edinburgh offices of Lloyds’ Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical divisions.
They will join Diligenta, a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services that already manages more than 11 million UK life and pension policies.
Lloyds confirmed the move and said it was part of a push to develop better digital services for customers with insurance, pensions and investment products.
But Rob MacGregor, national officer at Unite, said: “The wholescale transfer of 1,000 Lloyds Banking Group staff to Diligenta is nothing short of a betrayal of these workers.
“The bank’s ‘sale’ of its committed Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical staff represents contempt for long serving and skilled employees.”
The affected staff will join Diligenta at existing offices under a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) arrangement.
Lloyds returned to private ownership in May after the UK Government sold the last of its stake in the bank.
Its chief executive António Horta-Osório is working on a new three-year strategy for the bank to be launched early next year and is expected to focus on a push into digital banking and wealth management.
