Redundancy Watch

In the public sector, recent large announcements of job losses include: Lancashire County Council which is cutting 6,000 jobs; Leeds City Council (3,000); Norfolk County Council (3,000); Bradford City Council (2,975); Greater Manchester Police Authority (2,800); Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (2,000); London Borough of Lambeth (2,000 including voluntary sector); Durham County Council(1,600); Coventry City Council (1,500); Kent County Council (1,500); Kent Police (1,500); Lincolnshire County Council (1,200); Essex Police Authority (1,200); London Borough of Newham (1,200); Dudley Borough Council (1,000); Hertfordshire County Council (1,000); and the Metropolitan Police (1,000).

The London Ambulance Service is to shed up to 890 jobs and Lloyds Banking Group will cut 325 jobs.

However, the private sector is not immune from job cuts and recent larger-scale announcements include:

Chemicals and pharmaceuticals: Reckitt Benckiser is planning to close its Peterlee factory with the loss of 321 jobs.

Computers and electronics: Vodafone is closing its call centre in Trowbridge with the loss of 200 jobs; Nokia is to shed 700 jobs at sites including London and Farnborough.

Engineering: Tata Steel’s Long Products division will get rid of 1,500 jobs at its Scunthorpe and Teesside sites; BAe Systems is closing its Wolverhampton factory with the loss of 70 jobs and a further 160 jobs will go in Newcastle and Farnborough.

Media: Virgin Media is to close its Trowbridge call centre with the loss of up to 500 jobs.

Packaging: MBL Group will shed up to 320 jobs in Leyland.