Norwich Union is to shut down its life and pensions processing operation in Cheadle with the loss of 280 jobs.
The closure of the Cheadle office is part of a wider efficiency drive at the UK insurance group which will result in the loss of 900 jobs in total, of which 600 will be compulsory redundancies. The majority of jobs affected are at four locations - Norwich, Perth, Worthing and Cheadle.
The Cheadle operation will be closed by the end of March 2004, with work transferred to other back offices across the UK.
Norwich Union and parent company Aviva employ around 33,000 staff in the UK. The firm says there is minimal impact on customer-facing staff and the announcements are not connected with the recent opening of an Aviva call centre operation in India.