SOUTHERN Water is laying off up to 100 staff just days after being ranked the worst water service in the country.

The Argus understands the troubled company is planning to outsource some of its customer service work to Leeds.

One worker at the HQ in Durrington, Worthing, said it had been “eight weeks of hell” and claimed a number of colleagues had been rushed to hospital after feeling unwell at work because of the stress.

The workers affected are set to lose their jobs before Christmas.

Southern Water admitted it was “an extremely difficult time” for staff and claimed it was doing all it could to support them.

But workers we spoke to, who remained anonymous, described a stressful and challenging environment.

On Wednesday we reported that Southern Water was once again ranked the worst water service in the UK by the Consumer Council for Water.

One staff member, who said she had been working at the company for many years, said: “It has literally been eight weeks of hell.

“We have been told by management that around 100 staff in the customer services department will be losing their jobs. The stress has been unbearable – we’ve literally had staff going to A&E because of the high levels of stress. It’s been that bad.

“Things need to change. Staff accept that. We are rubbish at customer service and there is a general acceptance that everything needs to be done in a better way.

“But we are deeply upset at the way this has been handled by Southern Water. We are bitterly disappointed.

“Southern Water has to do something to make the service to customers better but how can this be a better way?

“It has been very scary.

“There are between 200 to 300 staff working in customer services here at Durrington yet by Christmas 100 will have left the company.”

Simon Oates, chief customer officer, said: “We are making a series of changes to the way we deliver customer service. We understand this is an extremely difficult time for those employees affected by these changes and we are providing them with support to find alternative roles either inside the business or externally.”

Sean McDonald, ward councillor for the area, said it was a major blow. He said: “I’m disgusted and saddened by the redundancies at Southern Water. It’s a massive employer and the effect locally will be tremendous.

“I’m surprised Southern Water would go ahead with this as the company has been so heavily criticised before.”

London and South East chairman for CCWater Sir Tony Redmond said earlier this week: “Southern’s performance remains poor in comparison to the rest of the industry.”