Unions at Santander and TSB have opened negotiations over how staff in duplicate roles will be assessed for redundancy, following the completion of Santander’s acquisition of TSB from Spanish owner Sabadell.
The deal, agreed at £2.65 billion, completed on 30 April, according to Santander UK’s announcement of the completed cash acquisition. The combined group employs about 23,000 people and is targeting £400 million in cost savings.
Santander has not confirmed how many jobs will go across the enlarged business. TSB has already announced 130 redundancies ahead of the formal transfer of staff under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations, and further cuts are expected as the group pursues its savings target.
The two banks use different metrics for assessing staff performance. It is understood that unions at both are in talks about how to create a single system for evaluating individuals in the redundancy process.
One source said: “It goes without saying that in any merger there are going to be synergies that the banks will realise. And there is going to be an impact on jobs.
“There will be duplication of roles. I’m sure every role will be evaluated, wherever there are people doing similar roles.”
A spokeswoman for Santander said: “We have not yet made operational decisions on jobs [as part of the integration]. However, we will ensure that our colleagues are informed of any changes at the appropriate time.”
A spokesman for TSB said: “Whenever we make any changes to our business, the priority is to consult first with impacted colleagues to ensure they’re fully supported.”
Under government guidance on business transfers and TUPE, employees’ jobs, terms and conditions and continuity of employment usually transfer to the new owner, with redundancy among the exceptions. The regulations apply regardless of the size of the business.
Speaking to Bloomberg last year, José García Cantera, chief financial officer of Banco Santander, said cost savings would “come from projects that TSB is currently running that we will not need to do when the two banks merge”.
He said: “Yes, we think there will be savings; yes, we think these savings will offer us better products at lower cost to the customers; but not all of these costs [savings] will come from job cuts or branch closures.”
Sources said staff at Santander were broadly relieved at the merger with TSB, after news reports had at one stage suggested the bank’s Spanish owner might seek to exit the UK market entirely. It is understood some TSB staff have started looking for new jobs in anticipation of cuts.
The redundancy talks follow a separate dispute over working patterns. TSB told its workforce of about 5,000 that they will be required to work in an office three days a week from April 2027, and the TBU union is preparing to take cases to the Employment Tribunal over members it says cannot change their arrangements for personal or medical reasons. TSB did not previously have a formal office attendance requirement.
Santander has also confirmed it will retire the TSB brand and fold the lender into its UK arm, ending a name that dates to a Dumfriesshire parish savings scheme founded in 1810. TSB operates around 175 branches and has roughly five million customer accounts.
Sabadell acquired TSB from Lloyds Banking Group for £1.7 billion in 2015. Mahesh Aditya, chief risk officer of Banco Santander, took charge of Santander UK at the beginning of March to lead the integration.
