500 Jobs At Risk At Teesside Call Centre

5 September 2012, 12:32 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Direct Line Group, the company that owns owns the Churchill and Green Flag brands, is cutting 900 jobs, including closing its site in Stockton-on-Tees.

The company is the insurance arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland - and employs around 15 thousand staff in total.

They're trying to make savings of £100 million by 2014.

The first phase of that is the proposed redundancy of approximately 891 roles.

Changes are being brought in in Sales, Service and Partnerships (SS&P) which mean fewer consultants are needed to handle calls.

As a result of this, they've put forward plans to close their site in Teesside.

The Pearson Way call centre employs around 500 staff.

Direct Line Group have started a full consultation with affected employees and their representative bodies.

Paul Geddes, Chief Executive Officer told Capital FM:
"We have not made these proposals lightly and fully understand the impact this will have on our people. As we have done in the past, we will be open and honest, dealing fairly and carefully with those affected."