CSC stresses commitment to UK market

After confirming it will axe 640 UK staff, IT services giant defends its strategy

IT services player CSC has started a 90-day consultation process after confirming earlier this week that it is making 640 of its UK staff redundant.

Its announcement prompted criticism following reports that it was guaranteeing offshore jobs in India.

The move follows its announcement in February that it was axing 500 staff, bringing the total number of UK staff losing their jobs to more than 1,100.

However, in a statement, the firm – which was behind the failed NHS IT fiasco – insisted it was committed to the UK market.

"We can confirm that we have started a formal 90-day consultation process in the UK which could reduce the number of people working in our UK business by an anticipated number of 640 people,” the firm said.

“This action is necessary because the IT services market is changing, and our customers want competitive, new services with different contract and delivery models.”

It continued: “Through voluntary redundancies and redeploying people within other parts of our business, we hope to achieve a significant reduction without the need for compulsory redundancies. Where this is not possible, we will provide support to help ensure that anyone leaving the business does so in the best possible position. Our employees will naturally be concerned during this period of uncertainty, which is why we have initiated employee briefings to help them through this difficult situation.

"CSC remains fully committed to the UK market. We are confident that these carefully targeted and managed reductions will not impact the overall quality of service we provide to our customers."