SSE Share News (SSE)

(Sharecast News) - Energy supply Ovo said it was axing 2,600 staff only months after spending £500m on SSE's retail division as it claimed the coronavirus pandemic had forced it to speed up integration plans.

Ovo had originally planned to merge its businesses over several years and automate its customer services functions, but on Tuesday said the the Covid-19 lockdown meant customers were contacting the company online.

The company said it would close offices in Glasgow, Selkirk and Reading with jobs also expected to go at offices in Perth, Cumbernauld and Cardiff.

Unions slammed the move and demanded to know why OVO was not continuing with the government's job retention scheme (JRS) which runs until October.

Unite, which has 1,300 members from meter services to contact centre staff across England, Scotland and Wales, called for urgent talks with the company.

Ovo chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick 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".

Unite's national officer for energy and utilities Peter McIntosh said the cuts were "devastating news for the loyal and dedicated workforce who have continued to provide emergency and essential services to customers throughout the Covid-19 crisis".

"We will be pressing the company to explain why it is not continuing to take advantage of the government's JRS which was specifically designed to deal with potential job losses caused by the coronavirus crisis."

The GMB union said the decision was a "massive betrayal of promises made to workers and politicians that the sale to Ovo would not result in job losses".

"The Covid crisis and the standard variable tariff cap have affected the whole energy retail market but you cannot just cut your way out of a crisis in search of profit," said national secretary Justin Bowden.