Job Losses At Home Loans Business
Controversial home loans arm of Barclays bank, Firstplus, is to cut 300 off 430 jobs in Cardiff. Union Unite was angry, but Firstplus said that demand has slowed too much for it to continue to offer loans.
Firstplus, a home loans arm of Barclays Bank, is cutting 300 jobs at its Cardiff offices. This is a huge proportion of its 430 employees, but it has to make the cuts from its base in the Pentwyn area of the Welsh city as it is no longer taking on new customers as demand has slowed so much.
The remaining 130 staff will stay to deal with existing customers, and other roles will be sought within Barclays for the 300 who lose their jobs.
The UK’s biggest trade union Unite was angry at the decision and said work should been moved from other parts of the bank. They called on Barclays to reconsider.
Firstplus will stop making new loans as from 9 August, said Barclays. Managing director Neil Radley said that Firstplus had tried a range of activities within the last year to try and develop the business, but market demand simply isn’t strong enough now. He understood that it would be difficult for those losing their jobs and the company would offer support and assistance.
For the 128,000 Firstplus customers already with home loans there will be no impact, they say.
Firstplus was promoted in a TV advertising campaign by TV presenter Carol Vorderman. It has been a somewhat controversial business as it made loans to people with impaired credit histories secured on their homes. There was some criticism from consumer watchdogs who said that FirstPlus loans potentially put people at risk of losing their homes.
It was a top business source for price-comparison website Moneysupermarket, who have said that the demise of Firstplus will hit their profits by £5m next year. Trading in the loans and mortgages sector was said by Moneysupermarket to be extremely challenging.
There is a belief that Firstplus is up for sale, but there is little doubt that a buyer would be hard to find in current market conditions.
