The future of more than 160 jobs at a bank is hanging in the balance.
Vanquis Banking Group, which has a site at Chatham Maritime, is believed to have started steps to transfer several of its customer employees’ roles to call centres in South Africa and India.
As part of the revised operation, there may be some redundancies, a spokesman has confirmed.
Vanquis, formerly known as Provident Financial, also announced more than 90 new positions at its sites in Chatham, Petersfield and its headquarters in Bradford.
Those made redundant will be eligible to apply for these jobs.
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It’s believed a total of 168 jobs will be impacted across all three centres.
The company has already confirmed the transfer of about 180 jobs at its headquarters in Bradford to its operational strategic partners Teleperformance and Sigma, which have offices worldwide.
The move, thought to be a cost-cutting exercise, has proved unpopular with some of the workforce who, while able to work remotely, do not want to work for firms based abroad thousands of miles away.
The consultation process started last week and is expected to last for a minimum of 45 days with changes being implemented in early July.
A statement from the bank said “Vanquis Banking Group has started consultation with some operational employees about a potential TUPE transfer of roles to Teleperformance, Sigma and Huntswood, who are our operational strategic partners.
“As part of the changes announced, it has also started consultation about the removal of some roles, which could result in redundancy.
“If the proposed changes go ahead, operations will be mainly based in the UK and South Africa, as is the case now, with a large number of skilled roles within operations being based in the UK.
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“The proposed changes will continue to ensure we serve our customers quickly and efficiently, with the UK and South Africa sites being customer service centres of excellence.”
Mizan Muqit, co-founder and general secretary of the independent Equality for Workers Union (EFWU), said when the situation arose in Bradford, 90 % of his members opted for redundancy rather than transfer over.
He said there was significant job availability at call centres in the north.
Mr Muqit said “Workers are being treated like numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s all to do with cost per head and profit margins.”
He was contacting his representatives in Bradford who are talking to their colleagues in Chatham.
The Chatham centre, which shares the site of the University of Kent and the University of Greenwich, opened in 2008.
It’s home to the organisation’s largest UK care centre with teams dealing with fraud, risk, HR, complaints and, administration
Vanquis Banking Group is a British bank which specialises in credit cards, loans and consumer vehicle finance.
It primarily services customers with a sub-prime credit history who have been declined for credit from mainstream lenders and it is registered with the London Stock Exchange.
