Up to 200 jobs at risk in Portsmouth as insurance firm announces plans to move out of Port Solent offices

Ageas Insurance made the announcement to its staff at its office in Port Way, Portsmouth, earlier today. 

The firm will now be consulting with staff as it looks to move from its current leased office into a building in Eastleigh, which it owns. 

Anyone who does not want to move could be made redundant.

A statement from the firm said it hopes to move all operations to the new office, and that it will be helping staff to transfer. 

The statement said: ‘Customers are increasingly choosing to buy and service policies through digital channels. In addition, we have removed complexity from our business and invested in technology to make us more efficient. These changes in our business mean we have fewer employees, but we retain a substantial amount of workspace and facilities.

‘Our plan is to reorganise our sites to reflect this changing environment – a course of action we did not take lightly.

‘We have decided it makes sense to prioritise the sites that we own in Eastleigh, Bournemouth and Gloucester, and retain leased offices in the major cities of London and Manchester.

‘Unfortunately, Port Solent does not fit this new plan and therefore we are intending to transfer all operations from Port Solent to Eastleigh. We have started a consultation process about transferring our employees by the end of June 2019.

‘This is clearly unsettling news for our employees and our priority is to support them through the transition to Eastleigh. We are committed to listening to them, being open and transparent during the consultation, and supporting them in any way we can through the changes.’ 

A formal 45-day consultation period has been launched. 

This news follows 77 redundancies made at the firm’s underwriting, claims and broker distribution teams in Port Solent, Eastleigh and Gloucester in 2017.