NORTH-EAST workers will be offered the option of transferring to India to save their jobs, Npower has confirmed.

The electricity and gas company is making 430 staff redundant at its regional headquarters in Rainton Bridge, Houghton le Spring and shifting the roles 5,000 miles away to India.

As part of a consultation process staff will be given enhanced redundancy packages, and the option to cross continents would also be on the table.

"We could explore this as part of an individual's consultation," said an Npower spokeswoman.

Earlier this year, Npower transferred 600 jobs to the subcontinent where they are employed by outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The Northern Echo understands that staff employed in India to handle Npower bills and customer emails are paid roughly half the salary of their UK counterparts. After the latest company restructuring is complete the firm will have moved 1,600 UK jobs to India. 

"For every one of us they can employ two over there, so whatever they are saying this is clearly a cost-cutting exercise," said an Npower worker at Rainton, who said that staff and customers would suffer from the move.

Npower, which recently came bottom of a customer service survey, has been deluged with complaints following the recent introduction of new computer systems.

On Sunday, the company will hit its 900,000 customers in the North with price hikes of up to 11 per cent.

It follows confirmation of a major restructuring to close two North-East offices and make 1,460 redundancies across the UK.

Earlier this month, in a bid to boost morale amid job fears, bosses at the company relaxed office dress codes and a ban on staff eating lunch at their desks.

Yesterday (Thursday) at 9am workers were called to meetings where they learned their fate.

There was relief for those based at offices in Thornaby and Peterlee whose jobs are safe, although 1,030 will be bussed to work at Npower's flagship Rainton site, and both towns will suffer from the loss of workers who bring money into the local economy.

Back-office staff at Rainton were the unlucky ones.  

Asked if he would consider making the switch to TCS in India, a worker who will be made redundant in the new year, said: "I have a wife and young children so that would be difficult.

"I feel very disappointed and let down by the company as (Npower customer service director) Gareth Pickles has constantly informed us that our jobs are safe.

"Npower have let down all of its North-East staff, and its timing, just before Christmas, is ridiculous."

The cuts have also led to fears about the long-term commitment to the UK  of RWE, Npower's German parent company.

After the latest restructuring the company will remain one of the North-East''s biggest private firms with almost 3,000 staff. 

However, RWE said earlier this month that 6,750 jobs would need to be cut across Europe as it tries to reduce a debt mountain of over £28bn, partly caused by the Berlin government's decision to phase out nuclear power stations. 

In Britain RWE shelved plans for a £4bn wind farm in the Bristol Channel this week, after it sold part of its gas and electricity supply business.

It has also put up for sale its DEA business which operates oil and gas fields in the North Sea and torn up plans to build new nuclear plants in Britain.

Matthew Lay, of the trades union Unison said Npower had consistently let its customers and staff down by not investing enough in the workforce or technology.

"This has led to a huge number of complaints which the company seems to think they can deal with by shifting the responsibility to somewhere else, including to India," he said.

"If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan, it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for customer service.

"At a time when unemployment is high, what commitment does it show to the UK by shipping these much-needed jobs abroad? And what does this say about their commitment to staff when Npower have kept them on tenterhooks, waiting for the axe to fall, for weeks?"

That axe fell this week. Where it will land next could challenge Mr Pickles' insistence that Npower's commitment to the North-East "remains very strong."