Virgin Media to axe 250 jobs

The firm today confirmed closure will affect about 80 per cent of the 319 customer service staff at their offices at The Waterfront, Brierley Hill. One hundred and forty are expected to leave this week with the remaining 115 due to go in October. The remaining 20 per cent, about 64 staff members, have been found alternative jobs at the Waterfront site.

News follows last month's announcement that 80 jobs were lost after closure of the telesales department at the same Waterfront offices.

Department closures form part of a wider plan to make the Brierley Hill base the company's centre for technical support in the UK – a move that has created a total of 200 new jobs at the site.

Virgin Media announced in May that they were considering shutting the customer services department and the proposal was put out to consultation.

The consultation period ended this week with the announcement that the customer services department will close at the end of October.

Virgin Media spokesman Rebecca Burke said: "In May we announced a proposal to close our Customer Service department in Dudley, as well as make Dudley the centre for Virgin Media's Field Support function.

"Since then we have created 200 new jobs in Dudley as the site has become the focus for Virgin Media's Field Support function in the UK.

"Also, following the 90 day consultation period for our customer service staff, we are pleased that we have been able to re-deploy 20 per cent of our staff in a number of different roles in Dudley.

"Additionally, 115 of the affected 319 customer service staff will be staying on in their roles until the end of October.

"The remainder of staff who have not been redeployed will leave later this week.

"We are very grateful to all our staff for the professionalism they have demonstrated throughout this difficult time."

Miss Burke added that staff had been updated "daily" on the progress of the consultation and said all were aware of the outcome.