Lloyds accused of betrayal after sell-off of Edinburgh Widows workforce

The Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical workforces in Edinburgh and Bristol are being sold by the bank and their employment transferred to Diligenta.

Unite said pensions and some non-contractual benefits will be affected and accused Lloyds of “betrayal”.

Scottish Widows said employees would continue to be based at its sites in the capital and Bristol.

Of the 1000 jobs being outsourced across the UK, it is understood around 600 are at Scottish Widows’ Edinburgh offices.

No redundancies have been announced as part of the deal, which will involve staff contracts being transferred over to Diligenta.

The new firm is a subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate Tata Consultancy Services.

Lloyds said the transfer of contracts was necessary to provide a “seamless handover of service” as it launched a new digital platform.

Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said: “The wholescale transfer of 1000 Lloyds Banking Group staff to Diligenta is nothing short of a betrayal of these workers.

“The bank’s ‘sale’ of its committed Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical staff represents contempt for long-serving and skilled employees.

“The decision to simply sell off the workforce will come as a shock to staff at the bank.”

He added: “Unite is calling on Lloyds to reconsider this shameful deal and do the right thing by its staff who have worked hard to ensure the business is the success it is today.

“The message from Lloyds Banking Group is loud and clear and appears to be ‘so long, thanks for your efforts, you work for them now’.”

Mr MacGregor said workers would cease to be members of pension and benefits schemes under the new deal.

A spokeswoman for Lloyds said: “Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has partnered with Diligenta to enhance its service proposition for customers with heritage life, pensions and investment products through a new digital platform.

“Diligenta already successfully manages more than 11 million life and pension policies in the UK on its end-to-end policy administration platform.

“The new platform will make managing heritage products simpler and more efficient for LBG customers.”

She added: “To provide a seamless handover of service, LBG will transfer some of its operational processes and IT applications, along with around 1000 employees servicing heritage life, pensions and investment customers, who are expected join Diligenta at existing LBG sites under a TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings) arrangement.”