Hundreds of Barclays IT jobs under threat

Hundreds of jobs are under threat from the restructuring of IT operations at Barclays that will see its standalone IT division integrated back into the UK banking business.

The first stages of the internal merger of the 'Enable' IT division and UK banking at Barclays is due to begin later this month in the Business Processing Services unit.

The restructuring aims to remove duplication, streamline operations, exploit scale size and offshore work as part of core Barclays strategy to reduce cost/income ratio by two per cent over three years.

Operational transformation programmes across the bank will be brought under one CIO-led function as part of the restructuring. This will lead to the cutting of 178 contractor positions by the end of the year and potential "displacement" of up to 150 permanent staff.

Altogether, some 250 jobs could go in the first wave of consultations alone, according to trade union Amicus Unifi.

Around 100 jobs are under threat at Barclays' Dudley processing centre. The account opening function there was transferred to India earlier this year and now plans have been dropped that would have seen new services supported from Dudley. The bank is now looking for voluntary redundancies there.

Amicus Unifi said it is concerned at the pace of the restructuring, with further changes are expected as a result of further merger meetings over the next two months. In a note to staff, Keith Brookes, national secretary at Amicus Unifi warned that it will be a "robust" 12 months for Barclays' IT department.

A spokeswoman for Barclays said the restructuring is a continuation of the review of its UK banking operations from the start of this year, which aims to reduce various "silos" through consolidation.

"We are looking to bring them together and remove duplication and overlap. In some areas there will be a reduction in headcount," she said.

Responding to the claim by the union that the pace of restructuring is too fast, the Barclays spokeswoman said it is necessary for the bank to move at pace so that some of the savings can be reinvested back across frontline services.