British Gas owner Centrica has said it plans to axe a further 800 jobs, on top of the 500 role cuts announced last month, as part of efforts to overhaul its customer services and support teams. Service and energy call centre teams in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leicester, Stockport, and Leeds are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts.
Staff in these departments were told during the initial announcement that changes were needed to meet the “evolving needs of the customers”. Centrica said it wants to “focus on driving efficiencies” as it responds to “structural changes in customer behaviour”.
The reduction represents a roughly 14 per cent cut to the customer operations workforce, which the GMB union said will be effectively replaced by artificial intelligence.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national secretary, said: “It’s an absolute disgrace British Gas is slashing hundreds of human jobs and giving them to chatbots.
“These staff are massively overworked and underpaid, yet do their level best to keep customers happy. Now, instead of being rewarded, they’re being replaced by artificial intelligence.”
Centrica, however, rejected this, calling it “simply wrong”. A spokesperson said last month: “The suggestion these roles are being replaced by AI or new chatbot technology is simply wrong.”
Average customer contact per account has dropped 20 per cent year on year, it explained, as nine in 10 customers interact through digital channels such as its app and WhatsApp.
A spokesman for Centrica said: “We have been transforming the business for a number of years to ensure we have the right roles in the right places for the future.
“This means making changes to improve efficiency, drive commercial performance and give our customers the service they want.
“At the same time, we continue to invest in the skills where there is demand, including recruiting more engineers to meet growing demand and hiring 500 apprentices this year alone.”