Barclays to outsource 500 jobs

Tuesday, 30 December 2003 5:35 AM

Barclays Bank is to create 500 backroom administrative jobs in India, culling 250 jobs out of UK operations.

Only 40 UK-based staff will leave Barclays with the rest redeployed elsewhere in the bank.

Barclays denies reports it plans to move up to 5,000 call-centre jobs to India.

George Hulbert, spokesman for the high street bank, said: "We have no particular targets for offshore outsourcing. We have no fixed plans to 'offshore' call centres.

"As a dynamic business operating in an intensely competitive environment in over 60 countries, we keep the way we run our business under regular review.

"A range of options is available to improve efficiency - for example, in-house changes, joint ventures, outsourcing in the UK and outsourcing offshore. We use them all."

In total, Barclays employs nearly 60,000 British staff, a sixth of which work in call centres.

Digby Jones, head of employers' body, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), yesterday called on the Government to boost enterprise in the private sector, saying more red tape and tougher Labour laws would cause more companies to look abroad.

In his New Year message, Mr Jones said the UK had to be more competitive, more entrepreneurial and less regulated, faced with cheaper Labour costs from abroad.

Average salaries in Indian centres are about one tenth of those in the UK, at around GBP1,200 against GBP12,000.

It is estimated that 50,000 British jobs have been transferred to Indian centres in the past two years.

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