Skipton puts 90 staff at risk of redundancy
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Skipton Building Society has announced a restructuring of the business, resulting in the potential loss of 90 jobs.
The changes include the establishment of a new management retail board which will focus on customers, products and service delivery.
The society says the board will also identify opportunities to extend the society’s reputation for long term good value to more members.
Job losses will come from the society’s head office, The Bailey, in Skipton and its satellite centre, Prospect House in Scarborough.
As a result approximately 90 roles at all levels - out of a total workforce within the society of 1,270 - have been put at risk of redundancy today.
Approximately 20 new roles have also been created, including 17 in customer service, focusing on maintaining the current service offered to members.
Other changes include the amalgamation of the society’s two Leeds branches at the Bond Street site, after a business review concluded that only one was needed to serve its customer base in the City.
Several IT support functions of the society and its mortgage administration subsidiary Homeloan Management Limited will also be joined together within Skipton.
This announcement follows the society’s decision, last week, to raise its mortgage SVR from 3.50% to 4.95%.
David Cutter, group chief executive of Skipton, says: “Today’s announcement represents the second stage of a strategic plan designed to garner our business for the future.
“In the post-credit crunch environment, customers will look to organisations that place them at the heart of their business. Mutuals like us are renowned for investing for the long term solely for the benefit of their members.
“Regrettably, though, some tough decisions are required in order to ensure our business is in the best possible shape to face the future and to grasp opportunities – hence today’s announcement of redundancies soon after our planned SVR increase.”
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Readers' comments (17)
Spencer Clubb | 26 Jan 2010 5:03 pm
How can raising the SVR from 3.50% to 4.95% be "putting the customer at the heart of their business"? especially when Bank Base is still only 0.50%.
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Gaynor Davis | 26 Jan 2010 5:11 pm
Spencer - say it slowly, after me: "Bank Base Rate is not the same as the cost of funding for mortgages...."
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Anonymous | 26 Jan 2010 5:12 pm
The Skipo says "its customers will look to organisations that place them at the heart of their business. Mutuals like us are renowned for investing for the long term solely for the benefit of their members" - and then it raises its SVR from 3.50% to 4.95% - how does that benefit the members, main of whom have mortgages. It's not as though they are raising the interest payable on the savings accounts. Everytime I go into the branch all they want to do is get me to see their 'adviser' who wants to sell me a life assurance bond for commission - they are not even independent financial advisers now! Shameful - I'm off to the Leeds now.
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Anonymous | 26 Jan 2010 5:14 pm
are skipton getting greedy? too many companies are using the recession as a catch all excuse to lay people off for my liking... its everything thats wrong with the UK really..
1)take people on on low pay during a boom and fleece customers and staff
2)base rate goes up, SVR goes up
3)base rate goes down, maintain margin
4)crisis starts, tax payers pay
5)crisis ongoing, staff pay
6)crisis ongoing, exceptional circumstances, customers pay
7)crisis over customers pay and staff pay
Company gets off scot free
How about the company pays for a change? how about standing by your staff, how about standing by your customers, how about standing by the tax payer, and how about laying off 1 person that earns £200k than 10 that earn 20... how about some common sense... oh wait.. you are a building society / bank, therefore you have little of this precious commodity
Im sure the staff would forego the xmas party to save another staff member from the chop, im sure they would not take a bonus for 1 month to save 5.. how about taking the time to nuture the business and the staff to get it right instaed of being a typical two trick pony and Up rates and dump staff.. Shame on you. Boooooooo!!
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Salil Chaudhari | 26 Jan 2010 9:45 pm
Their SVR's are more likely to give their customers a heart attack rather than putting them at "the heart of the business2.
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Anonymous | 26 Jan 2010 9:50 pm
There are seven savers for every borrower at the average UK Building Society.
If a Building Soc is to offer good savings it needs to make a profit on it's mortgages.
Dont forget the Building Socs have been done over by Brown in having their contributions to the compensation scheme increased disproportionately to their risk, while the banks pay little more and have access to funding at 0.5%
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Anonymous | 26 Jan 2010 10:01 pm
Anon 5.14
Think about it! 90 staff out of the large number they have, merging functions, creation of with wishing to insult anyone 17 positions in Customer Service. I would say it's managerial reduction.
To address your numbered points:
1) During a boom it's harder to hire therefore salaries go up!
2) We are in a market economy what do you expect?
3/4/5/6)Building Societies fund their own lending they have had no access to taxpayers money via hand outs or cheap money at 0.5%. Increasing the base rate was necessary, it's still lower than a number of other societies whose SVR has had no relevance to the BOE base rate for sometime.
7) Just because at 930 am 26th Jan we have confirmation the economy has grown by 0.1% doesn't mean happy days.
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Phil Anderson | 26 Jan 2010 11:58 pm
The sooner Skipton are taken over the better. They are a joke and have been badly managed.
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Anonymous | 27 Jan 2010 8:57 am
Another idiot who thnks that SVR and BBR are linked. As an American Presidential candidate might have said "It's the cost of funds that determine the SVR dummy!"
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Anonymous | 27 Jan 2010 9:30 am
What about the workforce - Skipton is a small town and relies on SBS/HML, they are the biggest employer in the town. Isn't it about time that these companies thought about the bigger picture.
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