HSBC call centre to move from Edinburgh to Hamilton

The banking giant, which employs 3,700 people across Scotland, said 186 staff at the Edinburgh site had been asked to move the 38 miles to Hamilton, while three others had been offered redundancy.

HSBC is currently carrying out cost-cutting review across its operations and said just days ago that the 230 staff based at its Forth Valley tech centre in Stirling have been informed that about 100 jobs will move to Edinburgh, while 70 IT roles will move to India, China and Poland.

HSBC said the closure would happen before February 2017.

Explaining its latest move, Joe Gordon, head of UK Contact Centres at HSBC the bank said moving 1,300 Hamilton-based employees to Edinburgh would centralise the bank’s contact centre operations in Scotland.

He added: “Our intention is that as many of our colleagues as possible will move with us to Hamilton.

“With the exception of three roles which are duplicated and have been placed at risk of redundancy, all colleagues have the option to move with their roles to Hamilton.

“We will be offering relocation support in accordance with our relocation policy.”

Employees unable to move to Hamilton will be offered redundancy or the chance of redeployment, Mr Gordon said.

Unite Scotland said it would be attempting to help staff affected by the closure.

Scottish secretary Mary Alexander said: “Unite believes that the closure of this contact centre is badly timed - as staff in other contact centres are telling us that they are already very stretched.

“But we know that the option of relocating to the new site will be very difficult for many staff. The union is on hand to provide support and advice to our members and to make sure their rights are protected.”