UP to 50 staff in the North-East and North Yorkshire are to lose their jobs in the wake of a decision by Norwich Union to close its Hill House Hammond division.
The insurance intermediary's parent company, Norwich Union, announced yesterday that demand for the service had dropped because customers were more willing to shop around for the best deals.
Nationwide, 1,600 jobs will be lost. There will be 1,200 compulsory redundancies, while 400 staff are likely to be moved to other Norwich Union operations.
The operation, based in Bristol, has 240 branches in England, Scotland and Wales, and mainly sells personal insurance on behalf of other insurers.
Business will be transferred to the Norwich Union Direct operation, which is likely to result in the creation of 450 jobs in call centres at Norwich, Sheffield, Liverpool, Perth and Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow.
Patrick Snowball, Norwich Union Insurance chief executive, said: "The number of customers who shop on the high street to arrange their insurance has also fallen significantly as many prefer to deal directly with insurers by phone or over the Internet."
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