ENERGY giant Npower has reassured its Hull employees they will not be directly affected by 1,460 job losses as it confirms plans to outsource "back office roles" to India.
The firm currently employs 9,600 people in the UK, with around 560 based in a call centre in Clough Road, Hull.
However, Npower said this morning the only expected impact in Yorkshire will be the loss of 80 jobs at its Limsewood offices in Leeds.
In a statement, chief executive Paul Massara, said: "Today we have set out our proposed vision of how we would improve customer service, calling on the support of leading retail outsourcing partners.
"I understand that these changes would be incredibly hard for some of our employees and we'll be doing everything we can to support them over the next few months.
"This restructure is necessary if we are to deliver the levels of service our customers deserve. All calls would still be answered in the UK.
"We would have the flexibility to keep call waiting times down during busy periods, and continue to keep costs down so we can keep bills down."
Subject to consultation, the company says its restructure - expected to take eight months to complete - would involve more work being performed by
retail outsourcers Capita and Tata Consultancy Services.
The company says "enhanced" redundancy terms are being offered.
Colin Smith, the GMB union's northern region senior organiser, said: "GMB will vigorously campaign against the offshoring of jobs to India because it has absolutely nothing to do with customer service and everything to do with cost."
Npower announced a major overhaul of its UK operations in August aimed at "reducing management layers across the business".
Back then, Mr Massara said npower would "avoid compulsory redundancies, wherever possible" but said the company needed to make "major changes".
