High street bank TSB has announced 250 job losses and the closure of 36 branches.

The job cuts will be in the fraud operations department of the bank, central operations and staff who work at the branches earmarked for closure.

Trade union Unite said the decision by the UK high street lender was a “grave mistake” and that customers would “undoubtedly suffer a downgrade in service from these job cuts”.

The latest round of branch closures will start in September, and continue through to May next year.

TSB will have 175 branches across the UK after the latest round of closures.

Branches to be close in September 2024 are in:
Alloa
Bedworth
Birmingham, Pype Hayes
Bridlington
Buxton
Carmarthen
Cwmbran
Dovercourt
Edinburgh, Leith
Felixstowe
Frome
Glasgow, Cardonald
Glasgow, Castlemilk
Haddington
Hounslow
Lerwick
Leven
London, Bethnal Green
London, Clapham
Longton
Manchester, Middleton
Newcastle Upon Tyne, Milvain
Peterhead
Sheerness
Stornoway
Torquay
Whitehaven

Branches due to be closed in May 2025 are in:
Amble
Aylsham
Banff
Bedlington
Bude
Crook
Flint
Tenbury Wells
Whitchurch

The closures come as the lender said most account holders do their banking online.

A TSB Spokesperson said:

“The decision to close a branch is never taken lightly, but our customers are now doing most of their banking digitally and we need to move to a better balance of digital and face-to-face services.

“We remain committed to a national branch network and through innovation and integration with video, telephone, digital, branch and other face-to-face services TSB customers have more ways to bank with us than ever before.”

The workers who are due to lose their jobs “perform essential work in the fraud departments and across the branch network”, Unite regional officer, Andy Case said.

“Through extensive negotiations Unite has been able to substantially reduce the number of jobs at risk. However, that isn’t sufficient, the union is pressing TSB to urgently reconsider its damaging bank branch closures plan.

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“At a time when customers are increasingly concerned about financial fraud and often need support from a local bank branch this is the wrong course of action.”

The union said it is holding fresh talks with TSB in an attempt to prevent further job cuts.

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