UK Asset Resolution sheds jobs due to office closure

UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), a company set up a year ago to manage the closed mortgage books of Bradford & Bingley and the asset management arm of Northern Rock, is to shut an office in Newcastle where about 700 people work.

UKAR chief executive Richard Banks said it was the company's job to wind down the mortgage books, for which it will need "fewer people" and only two offices, in West Yorkshire and Sunderland. A site in Gosforth is to close.

"It will no longer be cost effective to run the business from three sites," Parks said. "Our duty is to deliver value for money for our owner, the UK taxpayer.

"The loss of some jobs is regrettable but we will work hard with colleagues and the union to relocate people where possible and offer support to those colleagues affected."

UKAR said most staff from its Gosforth office would be offered relocation to Sunderland and some to West Yorkshire.

The company was set up in October 2010 to manage the closed mortgage books of Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock (Asset Management).

It came after Northern Rock was nationalised and then restructured into two separate entities - Northern Rock plc, which was sold to Virgin Money in November, and Northern Rock (Asset Management).

The Unite union said the site closure was "devastating" news for the staff there.