London, April 26: The outsourcing of jobs to India shows no signs of slowing down, despite resistance by Britain’s unions, with Prudential, the giant insurance group, today announcing that it is to close three offices and shift part of the work to India.

Prudential says that it will save ?40 million by shutting offices in Belfast, Bristol and London, where 700 staff are currently based.

Amicus, the white collar union, pledged to fight the move, raising the threat of strikes to protect the UK workers’ jobs.

Prudential said the work would be transferred to Craigforth in Scotland, Derby and Mumbai.

Chief executive Nick Prettejohn said: “Today’s announcement continues our policy of establishing core sites in the UK business and building on strengths while delivering a cost savings programme”.

“These reorganisation proposals are an important step in delivering the cost savings that will enable the UK business to continue to build on the strong positions we have established across the financial services market. Any change that results in redundancies is regrettable. We are consulting with unions and staff organisations and will make every effort to ensure that our people are kept informed and helped through this difficult transition period.”

The Belfast office, which employs 500 staff, will close by the end of next year, while the Bristol office, which employs 40, will close in a year.

Work at the central London head office of Egg, the Internet bank owned by Prudential, will transfer 120 staff to other offices in the capital.

The insurance firm employs around 5,800 workers in the UK and a further 1,115 in India.

Amicus argued that jobs would be lost because of the changes, adding that an office in Reading will also close during 2008.

The union warned of strikes and launched a fresh attack against the UK’s employment laws, which it said made it easier to sack workers in this country.

In 2002, the union signed an agreement with Prudential stipulating there would be no compulsory redundancies as a result of offshoring, Amicus pointed out. The agreement ran out in February 2006.

Amicus accused Prudential of waiting until an agreement on compulsory redundancies had run out before making the announcement. Amicus believes the announcement is designed to undermine union representation and export more jobs to India.

The union also insists Prudential is offshoring more jobs “despite a growing crisis in the Indian labour market”.

National officer David Fleming said: “Weak employment protection and globalisation are eating away at the heart of the UK economy. Finance and manufacturing fuels our wealth. Until the government strengthens employment rights, more and more UK jobs will slip through our fingers.”

He added: “Amicus is prepared to fight these proposals and we will support our members in any action they choose to take to protect their jobs.

“We have told the company in no uncertain terms that we do not accept their proposals and that they are making no attempt to avoid compulsory redundancies. This goes completely against the spirit of agreements, which have basically been torn up by Prudential.”