Northern Rock has revealed plans to shed around 1,300 jobs as it reorganises operations and looks to the future.
This figure is lower than originally expected, which is good news for some members of staff who wish to stay. Northern Rock are anticipating around 500 people taking voluntary redundancy, leaving just 800 to be selected by management. The original estimate was for around 2,000 job losses, but discussions with staff representatives and management has lowered that number.
After being nationalised earlier this year Northern Rock has a duty to pay back the money loaned to it and in order to do this it has had to revise the way it operates. Cutting costs but remaining active in the key markets is how this will be achieved, hence the job losses now being applied.
It is rumoured that the RBS could be ready to sell its stake in Tesco Finance, with a move expected within a few days.
Tesco Finance has RBS holding a 50 percent share of the business, which could be worth up to GBP950 million. This money would come in very handy for RBS, which has had a torrid time recently with the credit crunch denting its finances. This is just one of several sales that RBS appear to moving ahead with in their quest for GBP4 billion of extra money.
The management at Tesco Finance are unperturbed by the suggested sale since they have a very strong business position that would be attractive to any investor.
A recent study by the Alliance and Leicester has found that almost three quarters of UK adults are cutting back on spending as they deal with the rising costs of living in Great Britain.
The view of around 35 percent of those surveyed by Alliance and Leicester is that their disposable income is decreasing, and will continue to do so as they watch fuel, food and general household bills move ever upwards. Sacrifices are being made in clothes shopping, with nearly 40 percent of people saying they will be reducing their spending, followed by socialising, with around 36 percent of respondents cutting back.
An Alliance and Leicester spokesperson said that the majority of people are feeling things are getting harder now, adding that it is good to see the people of the UK being aware of the situation and doing something about it rather than ignoring what is happening.
