Dozens of jobs to go at IT firm

11:13am Thursday 28th February 2008

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Dozens of highly skilled IT workers are facing the axe after a technology firm announced a swathe of job cuts.

Consulting and outsourcing company Capgemini is to make 450 redundancies across the country following the loss of a contract with Revenue and Customs.

The bulk of the cuts will be made in Telford, Shropshire, but more than 40 jobs are under threat at the Revenue offices in Barrington Road, Goring, Worthing, where Capgemini employs about 200 people providing IT and technical support.

A spokesman for Capgemini said: "The Government's comprehensive spending review requires Revenue and Customs to make substantial savings in its operating expenditure.

"We have committed to reduce the costs of IT service delivery and align the operation to the anticipated lower volumes of business.

"The company has recently undertaken a strategic review of delivery and there is now unfortunately a need to reduce staff costs to optimise delivery. As a result we will be making up to 450 redundancies across the business."

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said it had worked with Capgemini to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies, which at one point was going to be as high as 600 posts.

Union members at the company's offices across the country have now voted to accept the proposals and no industrial action is planned.

But Chris Morrison, the chairman of the PCS Capgemini group, said: "Morale is low and we have great concerns over the affect these cuts will have on the level of service that the public might expect."

Capgemini staff provide IT support for much of the Revenue's output such as tax credits. The union believes these could be disrupted by the reduction in staff.

Mr Morrison said there will be about 30 compulsory redundancies at the Barrington Road site and "between a dozen and 20" other staff accepting voluntary redundancy.

He also warned there could be further cuts to come, adding: "Revenue and Customs is continuing to look at reducing its budget and because that is our only supplier of work at Worthing.

"So we are very concerned there may be further job losses at some point in the future."

The Capgemini spokesman said: "We are working with outplacement service providers to support all staff affected and help them to explore other employment opportunities."

Mr Morrison said the PCS would also be working with those people facing the axe.

He added: "Staff will be notified over the next 24 hours and we will be working with those individuals affected to see if we can find them work within the company.

"There may also be cases where we can argue against dismissal and I am hopeful we can bring down the number of compulsory redundancies."

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