Nearly 1,700 jobs to go at Norwich Union

"Unfortunate but inevitable" cull to mostly affect IT and business change departments

Norwich Union is nearing the end of its efficiency programme

Norwich Union will shed almost 1,700 staff, mostly in the IT and business change areas of the business, as part of a three-year efficiency plan.

Redundancies at the firm, part of insurance giant Aviva, will affect 1,100 permanent workers and about 600 freelancers.

“Our strategy over the last three years has seen us transform and simplify our business, leaving us well placed to face the challenges ahead," said Mark Hodges, chief executive of Norwich Union Life.

"Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable."

According to workers union Unite, most of the employees affected are based at offices in York and Norwich.

"Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm," said Derek Simpson, the union's joint general secretary.

"Unite is angry that Aviva is repeating what appears to be an annual exercise of cutting thousands of staff. It is unacceptable that once again shareholders received their full dividends, while the workers who brought the company this success are rewarded with job losses."

Last month, Aviva signed a £700m datacentre services deal with EDS aimed at reducing costs associated with equipment maintenance and staff at its two Norwich datacentres to concentrate on areas that provide competitive advantage.

As part of the deal, some 300 Aviva staff are being transferred to EDS under a TUPE arrangement. At the time, the insurer told Computing that no employees have been made redundant as a result of the agreement between the two firms.