ENERGY giant npower - one of Worcester's largest employers - is to cut 1,400 jobs in call centres across the country.

The company is expected to announce today (Thursday) plans to outsource call centre jobs to a third party in the UK while back office work is moved to India.

It is not thought any jobs in Worcester will be affected by the announcement, which comes after the company’s German owner RWE announced earlier this month it would be cutting 6,750 jobs across Europe.

An npower spokesman refused to confirm the cuts but said the company was reviewing its sites, operations and staff arrangements.

"We've been doing this to improve our customer service and keep our costs down, at a time of external pressures on customers' bills,” he said. “As we've always said, we'll tell our people first and then inform the media."

Britain’s largest trade union UNISON attacked the decision as a "Christmas nightmare for staff and customers" and warned its reputation would be severely damaged as a result.

National officer Matthew Lay said the company had “consistently let their customers and staff down by not investing enough in the workforce, technology or in the latest customer service techniques.”

"This has led to a huge number of complaints which the company seems to think they can deal with by shifting the responsibility to somewhere else, including to India,” he said.

"If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan, it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for customer service.

"At a time when unemployment is high, what commitment does it show to the UK by shipping these much-needed jobs abroad? And what does this say about their commitment to staff when npower have kept them on tenterhooks waiting for the axe to fall for weeks?"