Northern Rock job losses confirmed

Northern Rock is losing a third of its staff as the bank's workforce falls from 6,000 to 4,000.

The nationalised mortgage lender approaches the anniversary of the queues forming at its doors as its funding model fell through, with the announcement of job losses as it tries to shrink on the road to profitability.

Since the start of consultation on job losses, the Novocastrian bank has lost 1,300 jobs through redundancy and natural turnover. Around 500 of the job losses were achieved through voluntary redundancy and 800 through compulsory redundancy.

Further turnover of staff will see the workforce fall to 4,000 staff.

Northern Rock executive chairman Ron Sandler said: "This has been a very difficult period for the whole company.

"I would like to pay a special tribute to all of our staff who have maintained high service standards to our customers throughout this difficult time. Their performance has been outstanding."

Northern Rock also announced it will sell or rent out new office space near Rainton Bridge near Sunderland and Gosforth outside Newcastle upon Tyne.

It will retain its two main office sites in Gosforth and Doxford Park.

Regional development agency One NorthEast is launching a series of initiatives to aid those losing jobs including a job search website exclusive to Northern Rock staff and job fairs.

Alan Clarke, One NorthEast chief executive, said: “Today is a sad and emotional day for many Northern Rock employees.

"I would urge employees affected by the bank’s restructuring to take advantage of the professional help available and give themselves the best possible chance of finding suitable new employment in the north-east."

As Northern Rock repays its loan to the Bank of England and shrinks its business size, the bank expects to reach profitability after 2011.



Daniel Barnes