Lloyds to close Scottish office and put hundreds of jobs at risk at UK's biggest retail bank

Banking giant Lloyds has announced sweeping changes across the group which will put hundreds of jobs at risk - including the closure of a 1,500 staff office in Scotland.

The proposals will ultimately affect more than 1,000 roles UK-wide as the UK’s largest retail lender accelerates plans to cut costs and digitise its operation.

About 1,500 people work at the Dunfermline office, and they will be asked to either work from home, or relocate to the Citymark building in Edinburgh when the office closes next year.

A man passes the entrance to a Lloyds Banking Group office in the City of London | AFP via Getty Images

The bank - which owns Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows - has more than 60,000 employees and will cut jobs in areas including customer service and sustainability, according to a statement by trade union Accord.

The bulk of the lay-offs will target middle manager “customer relationship” employees, staff working in operations, “digital experience” and marketing departments. The bank also plans to cut a small number of roles in its sustainability function and commercial bank arm.

The news emerged after the bank announced plans to shut another site in Liverpool earlier today (Wednesday).

The Accord union, which represents thousands of Lloyds employees, said about 1,300 roles in total were being put up for review within its consumer relationships divisions.

The number of roles at risk has not yet been finalised as a selection processes is ongoing.

Ged Nichols, the general secretary of Accord, said: “Accord has contacted every individual member who is impacted to offer support and advice.

“Our priorities are to ensure compulsory redundancies are minimised and that members who will leave the business receive the full redundancy compensation they’re entitled to under union agreements.”

A spokeswoman for Lloyds said: “To achieve the ambitious strategy we launched in February 2022 and deliver a better service to our customers, we are transforming our business.

“To do this and move forward faster, we hired 10,000 experts last year to drive our transformation and we will continue to look at all options to ensure we are well placed to deliver for our customers.

“Making changes means not only creating new roles and upskilling colleagues in some parts of the business but also having to say goodbye to talented people who have been a part of the group’s success in the past.

“Where that is unfortunately the case, we will do everything we can to support them with the changes recently announced.”

Union officials have said plans by Lloyds bank to shut its office in Speke, Liverpool, are a “huge mistake”.

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “The impact on the hundreds of staff and the region will be significant and is wholly unnecessary.

“The impact of the longer commute to Chester for colleagues is huge.

“While some workers in Speke do currently work from home, a substantial number still do need to travel into the centre for work.

“The refusal of Lloyds Banking Group to open an alternative Liverpool office is completely unjustified and damaging.

“Poor communication of the site closure has added insult to injury, with management telling staff of the decision by email.”