Santander decision to scrap £75m Bootle operations hub 'devastating'

The complex was due to become the bank's contact centre and UK operations hub from 2022

Santander's decision to scrap plans to transform its Merseyside base into its UK operations hub is "devastating" for the local area, a council has said.

The bank's £75m project to demolish the Bootle site and build a new complex was approved by Sefton Council in 2019.

However, on Thursday, it announced the site would close, along with 111 branches, as part of a move towards greater flexible working.

The council said it was a "massive blow" for the town.

Under the new plans, Santander will move its headquarters from London to Milton Keynes and will close offices in Bootle, Newcastle, London and Manchester before the end of the year.

The Bootle site was due to be demolished to make way for the new complex

Staff will be asked to work from home more often or travel into one of its six remaining offices in Belfast, Bradford, Glasgow, London and Sheffield or its new headquarters, the bank said.

It added the pandemic had "accelerated the existing trend towards greater flexible working, and our colleagues in Bootle have told us this has brought significant benefits for many of them".

About 1,800 of the 2,100 employees at the Bootle site already work from home as a result of the pandemic, the bank said.

The Sefton Council spokesman said the decision to close the site was devastating as the borough had already seen a 87% jump in people claiming benefits since March 2020.

"We have nearly 12,000 people looking for work, in addition to nearly 16,500 people presently being placed on the furlough scheme," he said.

"This is our worst position for 24 years."

He added that "coupled with the recent confirmation that HMRC will relocate to Liverpool from their Bootle building", which represented a "loss of thousands more jobs", it was "a massive blow to our borough and particularly Bootle town centre".