BREAKING NEWS: Direct Line to axe 800 jobs

Insurance firm Direct Line has confirmed it is to cut 800 jobs.

The Churchill Insurance owner says the job cuts are a response to the increasing prevalence of customers interacting with them online.

‘Like many companies we are having to prepare for changes in the way we operate reflecting changing customer behaviour where people are increasingly opting to interact with us digitally,’ Direct Line said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters. 

It follows a Sky News report that the company is looking to economise its operations and will tell staff today about where the job losses will take place.

According to the broadcaster, Direct Line was looking to close one of its sites in two years’ time, while a second will be dramatically downsized. 

It also said around a thousand employees based at its Bromley headquarters are expected to have their jobs accommodate ‘agile working’ 

The Green Flag brand owner announced last November that it was looking to save £60million in costs in 2019 and 2020 in order to become more efficient.

Today’s announcement comes exactly a year after Penny James was named the new chief executive of the firm’s parent company, the Direct Line Insurance Group.

The former chief financial officer of Direct Line was the first female head of a financial services business on the FTSE 100. She was the seventh female chief executive of a firm on the blue-chip index. It has since fallen to the FTSE 250 Index.