STUDENT Loans Company (SLC) workers in the North- East are facing an uncertain future after the company last night announced it was consulting on redundancies.
The Darlington site, which employs 525 permanent staff, is expected to be among those affected by plans to cut 150 posts.
But the SLC said the majority of the redundancies would be from its head office in Glasgow, which employs 1,212 and its printing and mailing centre in Hillington, Renfrewshire, which employs 127 staff.
It announced yesterday that 45 posts will be moved from the Hillington offices to the Darlington offices at Lingfield Point.
The consultation process is expected to take 90 days.
The potential job cuts follow the completion of a major programme of work to move the loan and grant application process online, with IT workers among those threatened with redundancy.
Back office staff, working in departments such as finance and HR, could also be affected, with the squeeze on public finances also a contributing factor.
It will not affect staff involved in application processing and dealing with customer queries – which is the majority of work carried out at Darlington.
But some redundancies are still expected at the North- East centre, which opened in 2008.
Last night, the company said it expected to achieve the majority of redundancies through voluntary means.
Managing director Derek Ross said: “We are very disappointed that any of our staff are affected by these changes.
“The fact that Darlington is primarily a customer service operation means it is less affected, but nevertheless it is disappointing we are having to introduce these changes.”
Mr Ross said he could not yet put a figure on how many employees could go from each site.
He said: “We are in a consultation process and we have to go through that process.”
The Public and Commercial Services union said it would fight the redundancies.
Colin Young, secretary of the PCS union branch which represents SLC staff, said: “This announcement is a body blow to the hard-working staff in the Student Loans Company.”
The SLC was set up in 1990 when the loan system was introduced for students at universities and colleges.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here