There were emotional scenes at a Kwik Fit call centre as 521 staff heard they will lose their jobs.
Director Ant Middle told the stunned employees that the site will close by the end of March 2017.
The jobs will go from the Kwik Fit Insurance Services call centre in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire.
Ageas, the company’s Belgium owners, said it has been under increasing pressure since customers have changed how they buy insurance. The company says it has tried to address this and improve performance, but not been successful.
Many employees have spoken out about how devastated they were by the news. Despite knowing about plans to downsize, they said they’d been assured that they could take on other roles.
It has been reported that employees have been offered £25 per day to attend work until the office closes in March. Staff will also be meeting with management to discuss the redundancy options.
Interest in acquiring Kwik Fit Insurance
Several companies have already approached Ageas about acquiring the call centre facilities and staff.
Scottish Parliament member Richard Lyle has also been meeting with a number of company bosses about the possibility of them taking on the insurance office and workforce. He said that the companies were enthusiastic and he was hopeful that these meetings would have a positive result for Kwik Fit staff.
Ageas UK added that it’s exploring these options in detail with support from the Scottish Government and its agencies.
