'No threat to Nationwide jobs' in Northampton in 2020 after 40 per cent plummet in profits

The building society is a major employer in Northampton - but has suffered a punishing financial year
Nationwide's annual report has revealed they suffered a 40 per cent drop in profits in the past financial year.Nationwide's annual report has revealed they suffered a 40 per cent drop in profits in the past financial year.
Nationwide's annual report has revealed they suffered a 40 per cent drop in profits in the past financial year.

Nationwide has guaranteed there will be no compulsory redundancies "in 2020" after revealing it has suffered a 40 per cent drop in profits.

The building society - which employs nearly 3,000 people at Northampton's Moulton Park - announced a plunge in profits yesterday (May 29) as part of its annual financial report.

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The mutual claims it had already faced pressure this financial year even before it took a £101m hit as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, the building society has pledged that none of its workforce will face compulsory redundancies in 2020 following the report.

Nationwide's chief financial officer Alison Robb told the Chronicle & Echo: "We will not make any compulsory redundancies until the end of 2020.

"We know that the most important thing in this current environment is having a salary month to month. There isn't anyone in our workforce that has not been affected by the coronavirus outbreak."

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Nationwide employs nearly 3,000 people at its admin centre in Northampton's Moulton Park, making it one of the town's largest employers.

The centre is reportedly running at around one-third capacity during the coronavirus lockdown to maintain social distancing.

It comes after Barclay's CEO Jes Stately sparked concerns in early May when he claimed that the lockdown had shown his bank could operate "from people's kitchens" and that large offices were "a thing of the past".

Mrs Robb would no be drawn on whether the lockdown or the annual report was a risk to the future of the Moulton Park centre.

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She said: "None of us know what normal will be when the lockdown ends. We have learned a lot from this, and one of the things we've learned is that a lot of people like working from home.

"Over the next year, people will have a more flexibility over where they work but that doesn't translate into the future of our workplaces.

"We will work with people to ask what they want... In the current crisis, there are people who won't want to work in an office environment like they are used to."

Nationwide also caused controversy in Northampton last year when it closed three of its local branches in St James, Kingsley and Far Cotton to invest in a new site on Abington Street in the town centre.

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But yesterday, Mrs Robb confirmed there were no plans to close more branches as a result of the annual report or the two months of lockdown.

She told the Chron: "We would never say we will never close a branch but we have no significant branch closure.

"We have no change in our branch plans as a result of the last two months."

Meanwhile, Nationwide says it has set aside some £100million in the event lenders default on payments as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

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It comes after the building society gave 280,000 of its members - many of them mortgage holders - a payment holiday starting in March and ending in June.

However, CEO Joe Garner also told the BBC yesterday he believed a borrower's credit should be "marked" if they need to take a second payment holiday, as it would signal a borrower was "struggling".