THE Glasgow office of a major energy provider is to be closed as plans to cut thousands of jobs are revealed.

OVO Energy, which bought SSE Energy Services from SSE plc in January, has announced 2600 jobs are set to be slashed across the UK.

It says integrating the two businesses would have always required changes but these have been accelerated by the impact of the coronavirus.

The plan includes shutting the OVO office at Waterloo Street in Glasgow as well as a centre in Selkirk. OVO says staff at these sites will be able to work from home or another office. Job losses are expected in Perth and Cumbernauld.

The OVO announcement does not affect any SSE plc employees. They will continue to work from the Waterloo Street site.

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The GMB, the union of OVO/SSE staff, says the energy giant has backtracked after promising there would be no job cuts when the takeover proposal was revealed last year.

It is calling for the restructure to be paused and wants the government to amend the furlough scheme to prevent companies who use it from making redundancies for at least a year.

Justin Bowden, GMB senior organiser, said: "Coronavirus outbreak or not, this is a massive betrayal of promises made to workers and politicians that the sale to OVO would not result in job losses. 

"Whilst we were able to save 700 jobs from offshoring for now, this is still 2,600 good UK jobs from a company that is busy soaking up taxpayers money from the furlough scheme.

"GMB says companies who take government money from the Job Retention Scheme should be prevented from making redundancies for at least year."

Bristol-based OVO claims the impact of the pandemic has accelerated changing consumer behaviour, reducing the demand for some roles.

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Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO, said: "What should have been a much longer process to digitise the SSE business and integrate it with OVO has been accelerated due to the impact of the coronavirus.

"We are seeing a rapid increase in customers using digital channels to engage with us, and in our experience, once customers start to engage differently they do not go back. As a result, we are expecting a permanent reduction in demand for some roles, whilst other field-based roles are also heavily affected.

"There is never an easy time to announce redundancies and this is a particularly difficult decision to take. But like all businesses, we face a new reality and need to adapt quickly to enable us to better serve our customers and invest in a zero carbon future."

Sandra White MSP has urged any constituents with concerns about the announcement to contact her office.

She said: "This will be a sad and hugely challenging time for workers at OVO who may be facing redundancy, and I will be seeking urgent clarification from the company about their plans for the site in Glasgow.

"The overwhelming priority is protecting jobs, and I will be seeking continuous dialogue with management and the unions in order to ensure that as much as possible can be done to protect the OVO workforce in my constituency."