Shopping group to cut 1,500 workers

Home shopping group Shop Direct - which has a call centre in Newtown - is to cut 1,500 jobs, union leaders said today.

The GMB union said the cuts would come at the company's bases in Sunderland, Burnley and Newtown.

The company, formerly known as Littlewoods Home Shopping, said it would close a call centre in Crosby, Merseyside, with the loss of around 1,000 jobs.

Another 150 further redundancies will be made at the company's headquarters in Speke, Liverpool.

The firm said the growth of online shopping had led to a reduction in telephone orders.

Shop Direct Group includes the former catalogue shopping giants of Littlewoods, Great Universal and Kays as well as Additions Direct, Marshall Ward and Choice.

Mark Newton Jones, chief executive of Shop Direct Group, said: "We recognise that this will be a difficult time for those members of our team impacted by today's announcement.

"We do hope to relocate 250 of them and we will do everything we can to support those affected."

The union said it would do everything it could during the 90-day consultation to lessen the impact of the "disastrous" news.

Northern regional officer Mick Hopper said: "This announcement is a body blow in an area of very high unemployment. We will be seeking help from elected representatives and other Government agencies."