Aviva to cut 1,100 jobs in UK

The Uk's largest insurer Aviva is to cut 1,100 jobs, the company said today

The Uk's largest insurer Aviva is to cut 1,100 jobs, the company said today. However, a spokesman for its Irish subsidary Hibernian Aviva said there would be no losses in Ireland.

Hibernian Aviva, employs 2,200 staff in offices in Dublin, Cork and Galway and is outsourcing 450 jobs to Bangalore, India by the end of 2010.

Norwich Union Life, which is also owned by Aviva, confirmed plans to cut 1,100 permanent jobs by the end of the year, while a further 590 contract positions would end in the next few months.

The impact on staff will be minimised by natural turnover and redeployment, while a number of vacancies have been closed, said the firm.

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Aviva employs around 30,000 people in the UK.

“Our strategy over the last three years has seen us transform and simplify our business, leaving us well placed to face the challenges ahead. We have made significant progress in improving our operational efficiency and are also nearing completion on a series of major change projects. Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable," said Mark Hodges chief executive at Norwich Union Life.

“Making decisions that affect our people is always difficult and we are fully committed to doing everything we possibly can to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies. Our priority now is to work with everyone affected by today’s announcement and to support them however we can," he added.

Norwich Union said it will shortly enter a consultation period with those affected by redundancy.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist