Npower confirms 1,460 job cuts in outsourcing to India npower plans to close its offices in Stoke on Trent, with the loss of 550 jobs, and one of three Oldbury offices, with around 400 redundancies. There will also be 430 redundancies at its Rainton Bridge site in Sunderland and 80 jobs lost in Leeds. Staff at some other sites will be asked to relocate. npower, which is routinely ranked last or poorly in customer satisfaction surveys, said that the proposals would mean "customers would continue to be served on the phone by people based in UK call centres and back office functions would be outsourced to India." Tata Consultancy Services will take on this work, such as checking meter readings against customers" bills. npower said the outsourcing companies would have "extra capacity to handle calls at peak times, meaning call waiting times are kept to a minimum" and this would "save on current customer service costs, at a time of external pressures on energy prices." Paul Massara, npower chief, said he understood the plan would be "incredibly hard" for its employees but was "necessary if we are to deliver the levels of service our customers deserve." Matt Lay, Unison national officer, said: "There is no consideration of what this will do to the UK or to the local economy in the worst hit areas. The West Midlands and North West have the highest rates of unemployment in the country and losing another 1460 jobs will do more damage to struggling local businesses and services. These so-called savings will backfire on the company who have consistently let their customers and staff down by not investing enough in the workforce, technology or in the latest customer service techniques.