Lloyds cutting hundreds of jobs

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More than 350 people are to lose their jobs at a Lloyds banking call centre in Brighton.

Lloyds Banking Group said it planned to close its Sussex House contact centre in May 2010 and transfer work to other sites across the UK.

The bank said the change would affect 535 people, 162 of whom would be redeployed - leaving 373 staff without a job.

Leaders of the union Unite expressed alarm over the cuts.

'Difficult news'

National officer Rob MacGregor said: "This announcement will effectively mean the closure of a significant office in the Brighton region."

He said the company had axed 15,000 jobs since it merged with HBOS.

"Unite is alarmed about the consequence of this strategy by the Lloyds Banking Group."

David Nicholson, of Lloyds Banking Group's retail division, said the move was part of the "integration process".

"We recognise that this is difficult news for our affected colleagues.

"We are committed to working closely with them to help them look for other opportunities within the group and elsewhere between now and May next year."

Lloyds said it would try to achieve job losses through voluntary severance and making less use of contractors and agency staff, with compulsory redundancies a "last resort".