There may not be as many jobs lost from York insurance company Norwich Union as many feared. And, as STEPHEN LEWIS reports, for those who do lose their job, help is readily available.


In the downstairs “information shop” of the Future Prospects office in Swinegate, job-seekers are flipping through lists of job vacancies and chatting to advisers.

Upstairs, workshops are under way on everything from how to apply for a job, to writing your CV and presenting yourself at interview.

There are also banks of computers those seeking a new job can use to look for vacancies on the internet, or fire off online job applications.

Future Prospects bills itself as York’s “free service for learning and work advice and skills development.” And it does exactly what it says on the tin.

The organisation offers everything from introductory courses on using computers to support for graduates, employment skills workshops and personal development courses to boost confidence and help people identify what their strengths and skills are.

It has also, over the last ten years or so, built up real expertise in helping large numbers of people who have been made redundant get back to work.

Over that period, says co-manager Andy Bucklee, York has seen a significant number of people lose their jobs.

“There were 1,000 people from ABB, 600 people from Nestlé, 300 from Terrys, 200 from Thrall,” Andy said.

“We’ve had varying amounts of involvement with these.”

The difference between these past large-scale redundancies and the recent announcement that up to 500 staff from Nowich Union in York could lose their jobs is the type of work they do.

Redundancies in York in the past have tended to be in the declining manufacturing sectors – carriage-making, chocolate and sugar. The Norwich Union job losses – just like the 450 jobs the company announced it was shedding two years ago – are white-collar finance jobs.

In many ways, that means Norwich Union staff who do find themselves out of work will be pretty well-placed to find new jobs, Andy says.

There is often a “cycle of redundancy” whereby traditional manufacturing workers whose lose their jobs once may well go on to do so again. “It’s often last in, first out,” Andy says.

That won’t apply so much with the Norwich Union staff, he said.

“It is likely to be different. It is a buoyant part of the economy, and people will have very transferable skills.”

Nevertheless, for those whose jobs are threatened, this will be a very anxious time. The good news is that there may well be fewer than 500 people who eventually find themselves out of work.

As reported elsewhere on this page, every year up to 350 people choose to leave the company voluntarily.

Norwich Union says it will “look to employ people from inside rather than outside” to fill those posts – though it can give no guarantees.

Other people may choose to move to Scotland or Basildon – where the work of two key departments in York is being outsourced. Some more are likely to take early retirement or seek voluntary redundancy.

Roger Ranson, the city council’s assistant director for economic development, points out that despite announcing 450 job losses in 2006, Norwich Union today employs more staff in the city than it did back then.

If there are to be a significant amount of compulsory redundancies, however, Future Prospects will be ready to offer support.

Council leader Andrew Waller will meet HR bosses at Norwich Union on Thursday to urge them to recruit the York-based organisation – as opposed to bringing in a national training organisation – to offer retraining to any Norwich Union staff who are to be made redundant.

If that happens, said Andy Bucklee, Future Prospects could set up a “job shop” at the Norwich Union headquarters, where it would be able to offer staff threatened with redundancy a full range of retraining and jobsearch services in their own workplace.

“Because people would still be at work while looking for a job, we could offer all the services we offer here in their place of work.”

Even if it doesn’t come to that, Andy said, the Future Prospect offices in Swinegate will be open to any Norwich Union staff who fear for their future.

“Anybody can walk through the door.”

That should be very reassuring – because the organisation has a great track record. “We expect to get more than 90 per cent of people into their chosen field, which can include retirement, within three months,” Andy said.

* Future Prospects can be contacted on 01904 634748 or 0800 834239.