Fear over HML’s call centre job losses are alleviated

Mortgage administration company HML have calmed fears over job cuts to its Londonderry branch following the announcement of a closure of its Padiham office in Lancashire.

When asked by the Sentinel, a HML spokesman said that there would be “no change” to the long term future of the Londonderry office.

The HML spokesman continued to say that the closure of the Padiham office would not effect employees at the Springtown office with clients being handled by the Padiham office “transferring to utilise spare capacity in Londonderry.”

The Padiham office employs 271 people, 113 people are to be made redundant with the remaining 158 employees being moved to HML’s head office in Skipton.

In March HML made 38 employees redundant in the Londonderry office following the loss of a major client.

Speaking to the Sentinel an employee in HML’s Londonderry branch said that the news of no new redundancies was pleasing, however more had to be done to ease concerns over job loses in the future.

“It’s great news for everybody here. It has settled alot of nerves in the place. But more has to be done to guarantee jobs in the future, especially what happened a few months ago, when nearly 40 people lost their jobs.”

In a statement last week HML confirmed that the Padiham site would close due to a restructuring of the business to “utilise spare capacity” and “reduce fixed costs.”

HML chief commercial and finance officer, Neil Warman said - “Today’s announcement is part of our strategy to realise planned cost savings from our multi-million pound investment in IT over the last three years, and ensure the business is the right shape and size to take advantage of new market opportunities.

“The Padiham site is operating under capacity and we have spare capacity in our Skipton office. It makes sense for us to significantly reduce our fixed costs and get the best value out of our remaining sites.”

Speculation had been surrounding the future of HML in Londonderry. In March, employees were told that management had entered into a consultation process about job cuts across all of HML’s sites in the UK.

HML employs almost 400 people at its Londonderry site in the Ulster Science and Technology Park on the Branch Road.