Trade union Unite has warned that around 900 workers are about to be laid off by high-street bank Barclays.
The changes will reportedly affect several administrative branches of the bank, including finance, compliance, legal, policy, risk and IT.
Labelling the staff cuts ahead of the Christmas period as ‘disgraceful’, Unite’s General Secretary, Sharon Graham, commented: “Barclays is disgracefully cutting jobs to further boost its massive profits. This is a mega-rich bank that is already on course to make eye-watering profits this year.”
Barclays, however, has responded by saying that it announced the cuts back in October with its third-quarter results, when it reported pre-tax profits of £6.4bn.
A bank spokesperson said: “As we said in October at Q3 results, we are taking a number of actions to simplify and reshape the business, improve service, and deliver higher returns.
“This includes changes to our headcount as management layers are reduced and the Group improves its technology and automation capabilities.”
The news comes amid a wave of physical branch closures from high-street banks as they increasingly digitise their services and move away from face-to-face operations.
However, cash access appears to still remain a priority for the government, as earlier in August the UK Treasury introduced the three-miles rule, requiring banks to ensure ATM access in close proximity to populated areas.
