Since the announcement that AXA had lost the Lloyds contract back in March it has been an extremely worrying time for many members working in that business area. Whilst TUPE job protections exist the ability for the them to be utilised effectively can often be dependent on whether the new employer is geographically local to the existing one. In this case the new company, Allianz, and the jobs, are based in Croydon.

Pre-pandemic unless an individual wished to move to a new town the normal end result would be redundancy if a redeployment could not be found in the existing company they were working for. However the fact that for the last 16 months staff working on the Lloyds contract have successfully managed to do so from home has proven that it is not a pre-requisite that staff need to work in an office (whether that be in Ipswich or Croydon).

This new reality formed the basis of our consultation with AXA and they took this position to Allianz who have re-looked at their original assumptions and agreed that a new way of working is one that they can adopt.

This offers the opportunity for a large number of AXA staff to transfer to Allianz whilst continuing to work mainly from home.

As staff in Travel Claims will now know following the follow up announcement on Monday from management that moving forward will not be straight forward. 

Allianz want to recruit some workers prior to the official handover in November and whilst those jobs will be offered to AXA employees in the affected population in the first instance this does fall outside the remit of TUPE legislation which will cover those who move over in November. 

Additionally there is the run off of the remaining Travel Claims operation which will see that business taken over by AXA Assistance in Redhill or by other companies. TUPE legislation will need to be taken into account as and when this happens.

Additionally there also should be jobs within AXA Insurance available for employees to apply for.

Whilst this is a complicated situation with different phases and staff put into different ‘pods’ dependent on the impact on them of the Lloyds loss, the good news is that a lot of jobs will be preserved (inside and outside of AXA) and we are hopeful that the number of compulsory redundancies now will be very minimal.

We appreciate that the amount of information provided by the company on Monday is daunting and we would urge members looking for clarity or with concerns to speak to the local unions reps in Ipswich who are on hand to help.

Unite will soon be engaging with Allianz directly for consultation and negotiation regarding the terms and conditions of the AXA staff who apply for jobs and start with to Allianz in September and those who will transfer under TUPE in November and we will update you on that once those meetings have concluded.

Following intervention from Unite in AXA, flexitime will be reintroduced in Retail Motor Claims from 1st June following its suspension without our knowledge.

Further flexitime will be rolled out in Household Claims once staff resourcing issues have been resolved.

Thanks to our new Claims rep in Tunbridge Wells, Gary Summers, for bringing the matter to our attention.

Yesterday’s announcement in claims of the loss of 280 roles is extremely disappointing, even though this is mitigated by around 70 vacancies that will not be now filled being included in the total. Unite in AXA have been involved in a lengthy and detailed consultation process over the last few months regarding the business review challenging the company plans robustly. 

Whilst the business case is understandable, we are extremely disappointed that over the last few years AXA Insurance allowed the problems within Claims to grow to a point that now over 200 hard working and dedicated staff are facing redundancy through no fault of their own. 

The timing of the announcement and job losses is also disappointing given the negative impact on the jobs market due to Coronavirus. AXA have confirmed that in addition to the normal support staff at risk of redundancy receive, they are also engaging with other companies who are looking to recruit to facilitate impacted workers finding new jobs.

If you are a member at risk of redundancy, please speak to your local union rep if you need help or support. A list can be found here.

Members in AXA Ipswich claims may have heard talk about a planned increase in working hours from 35 to 37.5 per week.

The company are looking to extend what they introduced in Birmingham last year, ie. a voluntary increase in hours by individuals, but we are at a very early stage in collective consultation on this and at present there is no timescale or a definite decision to follow the Birmingham approach.

Last week’s announcement that AXA have formed a project team to explore how it delivers travel insurance in the future, potentially combining its UK operation with AXA Partners came out of the blue, with the company not have commenced consultation on the issue.

At this stage we are waiting for the company to provide more detail on its ideas so we can consider them and challenge as appropriate.

Given the lack of information we have received from AXA so far, we are not in a position to answer any questions or address any concerns you might have at this point, however we would ask you to speak to your local Unite in AXA rep about any issues you have and we will collate these and get back to members as soon as we can.