Lloyds Group Job Losses – I.T. and Operations

On 13 October 2010, Lloyds Banking Group in Aylesbury told its I.T. and Operations Department that up to 40 staff could be made redundant by the end of next year. The Department currently employs 400 people in the constituency.

Constituents who have been following the story will know that last year Lloyds Group announced 900 job losses in Aylesbury.  These losses are in addition to last year’s announcement and form part of Lloyds’s nationwide three-year integration programme, which is set to be completed by the end of 2011.

Lloyds has said that specific positions have not yet been identified, and that any redundancies would not take affect until 2011. The Group also said that they would use natural turnover and try to redeploy people where possible to help limit the impact on permanent jobs.

In total 1,600 permanent positions will be affected across the country. The Group will also be releasing 1,150 temporary and contract staff, with an additional 1,750 offshore roles also being impacted. 

David said:

“The news will come as a devastating blow to those affected. It is crucial that the people who lose their jobs get the support they need to find new employment as soon as possible. I will be writing to Lloyds, AVDC and the local Jobcentre Plus to ensure this is the case.  

“In order to create new jobs and attract investment to the local area, we need to make the strongest possible case that Aylesbury, with its affordable rents and close proximity to London, is a good place to do business. Since I found out about last year’s job losses I have put forward this argument in Parliamentary debates and to business executives, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Lloyds Group job losses – Minister’s reply (2)

Those of you who have been following my actions since the devastating Lloyds Group job losses announced last year, will know that I wrote to the Minister on 25^th February in response to his letter of 15^th December to highlight a number of specific measures that could help Aylesbury in the same way that other parts of the country have been assisted by the Government.

I am afraid that the Minister’s reply is not good news, and I am again desperately disappointed by his letter. As you can see, he dismisses my comparison with Redcar where the Government put together a £60 million emergency package to help deal with the consequences of the Corus job losses on Teesside. Instead the Minister highlights a number of measures which were happening anyway.

Below I have included the Minister’s reply.

Lloyds Group job losses – Minister’s reply

The loss of 800-900 jobs at Lloyds group (formerly HBOS, formerly Equitable Life) was a devastating blow to the Aylesbury economy. You may remember that on 1 December last year I secured an adjournment debate in the Commons to ask the government, which has designated Aylesbury as a growth area,  to respond by diverting money from existing budgets to provide a package of help for the sacked employees and to attract new employers to the town.

The Industry Minister, Ian Lucas, was courteous in replying to the debate and has since written to me at length about the six specific proposals that I made. The text is HERE. To be honest, while his tone is sympathetic, there is very little on offer in the way of help. It’s quite a contrast to the Government’s £60 million emergency package to deal with the consequences of the Corus job losses on Teesside.

I discussed Mr Lucas’s reply with Aylesbury Vale Council and others responsible for economic development in our area and sent a further letter back to him to ask him to look again at the case that I and local council and business leaders have been making.

Below I have included the Minister’s letter to me following the adjournemt debate of the 1st December and my subsequent reply to that letter.

My reply to the Minister’s Letter – 25-02-10

Minister’s Letter to me after the adjournment debate – 01-12-09

To read the Bucks Herald’s report please click here.

David’s House of Commons debate: Lloyds Group (Aylesbury Vale)

On 1^st December David led a House of Commons adjournment debate about the effective of recent job losses at Lloyds Group in Aylesbury Vale. The Minister attending the debate was Ian Lucas MP who is The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The Minister has assured David that he will write to him addressing the proposals to help encourage local economic growth that were raised by David at the debate. This will of course be posted on the website once it has been received.

Below is a short extract from last night’s debate. If you would like to view the debate in full please follow the link to the Hansard here.

Mr. David Lidington (Aylesbury) (Con):

I am grateful for the opportunity to bring before the House the impact on Aylesbury vale of job losses recently announced by the Lloyds Group.

The Lloyds Group is by far the biggest private sector employer in my constituency or in the wider Aylesbury vale district, which includes the parliamentary constituency of Mr. Speaker in Buckingham. Last week, Lloyds announced major job losses in Aylesbury. To some extent, this news was not surprising. Ever since Halifax-Bank of Scotland-HBOS-was hit by the credit crisis and forced to merge with Lloyds TSB, staff at the company, along with local business and political leaders, have had to live with uncertainty. It was always clear that that merger would lead to a review at some time of office locations and, on top of that, the impact of what is now the deepest and longest-lasting recession since the second world war has clearly reinforced the pressure on Lloyds to cut costs dramatically.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Ian Lucas):

First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on securing this debate on an important subject and on the way in which he has acted as a persuasive advocate on behalf of his community. Many of us in Parliament have of course experienced job losses in our communities during the past 18 months to two years, and they are always profoundly to be regretted. They have a profound effect on people’s lives, and each individual is severely affected. He put across very strongly how his community has been affected, and I thank him both for the tone in which he approached the matter and the constructive way in which he made proposals to help his constituency at this difficult time. I sympathise profoundly with his constituents, and I want to do all I can to assist. I shall certainly examine his proposals closely.

Another post on this topic will follow shortly.

To view the Bucks Herald’s report on the debate click here.

Job Losses at Equitable Life & Lloyds Group

Commenting on today’s announcements from Equitable Life and Lloyds Group, Aylesbury MP David Lidington said:

“This is devastating news for employees and their families and for the town’s economy.

“I have talked to senior executives at both Equitable and Lloyds. They have assured me that they will do all that they can to advise and support staff. I shall expect them to live up to those promises and, for my own part, stand ready to help constituents who now face losing their jobs in any way I can.

“I have also talked to the District and County Councils and to SEEDA about the need for an urgent plan of action to attract new employers to Aylesbury.

“The government has designated Aylesbury as a growth area. It makes no sense at all to build thousands of new homes unless you plan for new jobs at the same time.  I shall be pressing Ministers to make sure that government departments and agencies now do their utmost to deliver the jobs that Aylesbury needs.”

View the full story on the Bucks Herald’s website by clicking here.

Press Release: David Lidington Comments on Lloyd’s Job Losses in Aylesbury

“This news is obviously disappointing but we are in tough economic times, with any merger between companies likely to results in losses.

“I have been told by Lloyds that they will try to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum by looking at early retirement, natural turnover and voluntary severance.

“Lloyds TSB remains the biggest private sector employer in Aylesbury and I hope that they continue to stay committed to the town.”