Direct Line Jobs – 900 Jobs to be Axed

Direct Line Group are due to close their site in the North East, losing up to 900 jobs.

The insurer is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland and is the largest insurer in Britain with brands such as Churchill and Green Flag it currently employs 15,000 people across the UK.

The redundancies are part of their plans to make £100 million cost-savings before 2014 which are proposed to be implemented prior to their stock market flotation expected later this year.

Over half of the job losses are likely to be at the closure of the customer services site in Stockton-on-Tees and other redundancies will be across the UK.

Chief executive Paul Geddes said: “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.”

This announcement has come only weeks after the second major UK insurer, AVIVA announced they will cut 800 management jobs across the UK to save £400 million.

As part of the conditions set out by the £45 million bailout by the Government, Royal Bank of Scotland must offload Direct Line Group and it is anticipated that the business will be floated on the stock market later this year.

Analysts suggest the flotation could attract a stock market valuation of about £3 billion, which would be London’s biggest listings in years.

Employees losing their job have been advised by Direct Line that they would try to assist them in finding work elsewhere within the group or with other employers.