Unions castigate Barclays for redundancies in wake of billion pound profit

Unions have castigated Barclays for plans to make around 450 people redundant despite making a billion-pound profit in the second quarter alone.

The union Unite will meet the Barclays Chief Executive to press for a guarantee of no compulsory job losses. 

“This bank is making billions of pounds of profits.”

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “How can a profitable finance organisation such as Barclays slash over 450 staff amid a cost-of-living crisis? This isn’t an organisation struggling to survive, this bank is making billions of pounds of profits. If these plans for compulsory redundancy are implemented then hundreds of families will lose their livelihoods and face financial hardship because of a management decision which is both unnecessary and unjustified.”

“The staff losing their jobs are not highly paid rich City bankers but those earning modest salaries within Barclays. These employees worked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to help deliver the highest customer service to Barclays customers. These workers deserve better.”

£1.3 billion profit in three months

In July 2023 Barclays had a net profit of £1.3 billion, from the second quarter. This was a 24 per cent increase from the same period last year. 

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We continue to review and adapt our operations based on the ways customers are choosing to interact with us. These changes will enable greater collaboration across our teams, allowing us to continue to improve service for customers and clients. We are committed to supporting colleagues through this change, working closely with Unite.”

Barclays trying to catch up with Wall Street

Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan is separately embarking on a wider strategy review, amid some investor dissatisfaction at the bank’s underperformance relative to Wall Street investment banks.

In the three months to July 2023, there were 102,000 redundancies made in the United Kingdom compared with 108,000 in the previous month. During this time period, the month with the highest number of redundancies was November 2020, when there were approximately 402,000, according to Research outfit Satista.