BANKS AND OTHERS REVEAL BIG CUTS
MORE than 2,200 workers were left devastated by a wave of job cuts announced yesterday.
Lloyds Banking Group said it was slashing another 780 branch staff, the latest in a torrent of redundancies by the taxpayersaved lender.
Insurer Direct Line is cutting 800 jobs by streamlining operations across the UK.
And Virgin Money ended the day by revealing it was axing 500 jobs – around 215 by closing 52 branches and the rest from offices in Leeds, the North East and Scotland.
During a bleak day for workers, embattled fashion firm Ted Baker also announced plans to cut 160 posts as part of the company’s turnaround plan.
And the owner of restaurant chain Frankie & Benny’s said it planned to close
One of the big winners from the Government’s Help to Buy scheme raked in profits of £835million last year.
Just over a third of buyers who bought a Taylor Wimpey home in 2019 used the taxpayer-backed initiative, which has been criticised by some for inflating property prices. The scheme has been a major boost to house builders’ balance sheets.
Taylor Wimpey’s profits rose 3 per cent last year and its finances are so healthy that it plans to hand £610m back to shareholders in 2020, on top of £599m worth of dividends last year. up to 90 sites by the end of next year. Challenger bank Metro also increased its cost-cutting and halved the number of branches it hoped to open after it swung from a £40.6million profit to a £130.8m loss last year. Scott Doyle from the union Unite said the Lloyds job losses were “yet more evidence of the bank’s profits-over-people culture”. Lloyds said the cuts were being made because “customers are using our branches less often”. Direct Line Group said its redundancies were a reflection of “changing customer behaviour where people are increasingly opting to interact with us digitally”. And Virgin Money said its cuts were a result of its merger with the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks.
Outsourcing giant Capita has become the largest employer to be certified by a tax honesty scheme. The Fair Tax Mark recognises organisations that demonstrate they’re paying the right amount of corporation tax in the right place, at the right time. More than 50 businesses are now certified but Capita, with 63,000 staff, is the biggest to date. Company boss Jon Lewis said: “This demonstrates our genuine commitment to responsible behaviour.”