Norwich Union is to close its customer centre in Water Street, Liverpool, affecting 321 jobs.
Norwich Union is to close its customer centre in Water Street, Liverpool, affecting 321 jobs.
The centre, which predominantly handles customer service calls for Norwich Union Direct, will close by 31 October 2006. It is closing because the continuing growth in online insurance sales, together with improved processes and increased efficiency, means Norwich Union does not need as many people answering calls.
The work done in Water Street will move to other existing Norwich Union Insurance centres in the UK and India.
Norwich Union will make every effort to support staff affected and will actively seek alternative roles for them – the company has another significant base in Liverpool and a customer centre in Sheffield where possible vacancies will be identified. However the closure could result in up to 321 redundancies.
Simon Machell, chief executive of Norwich Union Insurance, said: “It is always a difficult decision to close any part of our operation with the resulting impact on people and jobs, but we have to remain competitive in a constantly-changing market.
“We will do everything we can to provide support and where possible redeployment for the people affected, and to keep the number of compulsory redundancies as small as possible.”
Of the 321 NUD staff in the Water Street centre, 180 work in motor insurance customer service with a further 40 in home insurance customer service, and the rest in a range of support and administrative roles.
The motor customer service work will move to existing UK and India centres. Home customer advice will go to Bishopbriggs in Glasgow, and customer satisfaction, cancellation and administrative activity will move to Sheffield.
In addition to the NUD staff, there are 45 people in Water Street who work for Norwich Union Life, together with a small number of IT and HR staff, and a further 400 based in Moorfields, Liverpool – these jobs are not affected by today’s announcement.
In September 2004 Norwich Union publicly announced its intention to create 7000 jobs offshore by the end of 2007. This was increased to 7800 following the acquisition of RAC in March 2005 by Aviva, Norwich Union’s parent company.
In a separate announcement, Norwich Union is today also announcing changes to its technical support team which will result in up to 17 compulsory redundancies in Sheffield.
Press office contacts
Louise Zucchi 01603 684506, 07800 699 664, Liz Kennett 01603 688263, 07800 699667, David Ross 01603 682730, 07800 699 665.
Notes to editors
- Norwich Union is the UK’s largest general insurer with a market share of around 14%, with a focus on insurance for individuals and small businesses.
- It is a leading provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the largest Financial Adviser (FA) providers. FAs provide over 70% of the company's long-term savings business in the UK.
- Norwich Union’s news releases and a selection of images are available from Aviva's internet press centre at www.aviva.com/media