Persimmon cuts 40% of North West workforce

Housebuilder Persimmon will make 130 of its 324 staff in its North West offices redundant as part of the 1,100 job losses announced earlier today.

A statement issued by David Bryant, group development director, Persimmon Homes, said: "As we announced today in our trading update, the restructuring process we have undertaken since the start of the year has regrettably resulted in approximately 1,100 redundancies of salaried staff across the Persimmon Group. This affects 130 members of staff in the North West, which includes four companies."

The four companies are the divisions of North West, Mercia, Lancashire and the Charles Church North West subsidiary. Staff affected are based in Warrington, Lancaster and Sandbach.

Bryant said none of the offices in the North West would be closed and continued: "Naturally, this news is very disappointing and we are providing all the support required during this difficult time for everyone involved.

"The reorganisation reflects the further deterioration of market conditions experienced by both the wider economy and the housing sector since the start of this year, in particular limited availability of mortgage funds and a reduction in consumer confidence.

"As previously reported, we have taken action in reviewing our build activity and are evaluating work-in-progress on a site-by-site basis. To this effect, we are continuing to concentrate on progressing sold and contracted plots, and applying caution to further investment in land, until the mortgage market and availability of credit for house purchasers improves."

In January, Persimmon Homes Mercia, based in the Sandbach office, merged with Charles Church North West in the same office, resulting in the loss of 19 jobs.

The stock market responded well to the restructuring and shares in Persimmon rose 7.75p to 235.75p.