Abbey has announced today that two of its call centres are to close by the end of October this year which will see around 400 jobs axed.

However, sites at Belfast, Bradford, Glasgow, Milton Keynes and Sheffield will receive a £25 million three-year investment in IT, training and the working environment.

Call centre sites at Warrington and Derby will close, and those jobs, dealing current account enquiries, will be moved to India by the end of October 2004. Call centre staff handling current account enquiries in Bradford will also be affected.

Today's announcement involves around 400 jobs in total, but an Abbey spokesperson said that "every effort will be made" to redeploy those affected before redundancies are made.

Offices in Edinburgh will also close by the end of this year, but the 900 jobs in the Scottish capital will be safeguarded and transferred 40 miles away to Glasgow.

All employees in Edinburgh, who primarily work in long term savings and protection, will be offered enhanced packages to encourage them to relocate or commute to Glasgow, Abbey said.

Abbey said that it has an agreement with ANGU, its staff union, that employees will be given at least six months’ warning of site closures. Enhanced relocation packages are available for people who choose to move to another Abbey location, the bank said.

The move is part of Abbey's "wide-ranging review", begun in February 2003, of how and where it carries out its operational activities. The restructuring will conclude by the end of 2005.

"The review aims to improve customer service and efficiency of operations by concentrating investment in people and technology in larger centres," the bank said.

Abbey hopes that by closing sites and moving to fewer, larger centres employees will be given better training, better working environments and more career opportunities, and customers will receive "a more consistent, higher quality of customer service".

Luqman Arnold, CEO, said that the company had been forced to take some "tough business decisions" that were "absolutely necessary to the health of Abbey’s future".

He added: "We recognise that this will not be welcome news to the people affected, but we have also been able to take away uncertainty for others, and give reassurance that we are investing in our key locations."

Since the review began last year, Abbey has already announced the closure of seven smaller sites and reduced duplication of activity across different buildings.

Abbey’s head office in London and its branch network are unaffected.

(gmcg)