BARCLAYS is axing more than 200 jobs in the centre of Glasgow.

Shocked staff who handle payment protection insurance claims were told yesterday at a mass meeting at their office in Nelson Mandela Place.

It's the bank giant's only PPI site in Scotland where 244 workers are based - 137 permanent and 107 temporary.

The workload will be "absorbed" by workers at Barclays' two call centres in Sunderland and Liverpool as well as the bank's London HQ.

A spokesman said: "In the last three years, Barclays has invested significantly in resolving PPI cases, including a centre in Glasgow.

"Over recent months, the volume of PPI cases has fallen and this reduction means the centre's role has been fulfilled, with further PPI cases to be managed through existing support centres.

"The lease on this Glasgow site also expires in 2014 and would require a multi-year commitment. Having evaluated all the possible options, we made the decision not to negotiate a new lease

"Given the nature of the work at the centre, we employ a significant number of temporary staff, however some permanent roles are also affected by today's announcement."

He added: "We are committed to working with all impacted colleagues to ensure they have access to the support and services they require, including possible redeployment options."

The Glasgow site is due to shutdown in March immediately the current lease ends.

The closure decision was immediately condemned by union leaders. Dominic Hook, a national officer with Unite, said: "The workforce in Glasgow will be justifiably angry and will feel that they have been betrayed.

"They have been working hard to resolve the problems caused by the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, but now they are being told they could lose their jobs. The workforce has been a massive asset for Barclays in dealing with the problems arising from PPI and we are demanding that the company does everything possible to avoid compulsory redundancies. Barclays has a duty to the workforce and it must leave no stone unturned in its search to find alternatives to redundancies."

The bank insisted the decision was not part of last week's major cost cutting blueprint which will result in 1700 job cuts across its branch network in the UK.

Officials have launched a voluntary redundancy scheme and have announced a number of branches will also close when the cuts are rolled out next year

gordon.thomson@ eveningtimes.co.uk