06/02/2008

Jobs Threat At Troubled Northern Rock

Virgin has reversed its promise not to cut jobs at Northern Rock if it successful in its takeover bid of the troubled lender.

The move has alarmed unions who had originally vowed to fight compulsory redundancies.

Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson had previously said that he was confident there would be no redundancies under a Virgin-backed rescue.

However, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the Head of Virgin Money, who is in line for a post running the bank if the buy-out bid is successful, said that it could not continue to promise there would be no job losses.

This latest news means further uncertainty for Northern Rock's workforce, some of whom are already on extended holiday while its future is resolved.

Employee numbers would probably come down from 6,000 to about 5,000, according to the BBC.

On Friday, the government told all potential rescuers that up to £40bn of Treasury-backed bonds to be issued by Northern Rock would have to be repaid in between one and three years.

If that is to happen Virgin would have to massively shrink the size of its mortgage book from more than £100bn to about £60bn. This action would mean fewer staff would be needed to service mortgages.

Northern Rock is a key employer in the North East and job losses could prompt a further backlash over the government's handling of the crisis at the bank.

(GC)

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