Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has resumed its plans to permanently close 56 branches at Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, and Halifax, in a bid to slash costs.

The move is expected to affect 160 jobs, according to LBG’s trade union Unite.

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However, there will no mandatory redundancies, Reuters reported citing a spokeswoman for Lloyds Bank.

The move comes two weeks after Lloyds Bank decided to slash 1,070 jobs, which would mostly affect its back-office employees at IT and retail banking, and insurance and wealth offices.

LBG decided to reduce its headcount despite announcing a pre-tax profit of £1bn ($1.3bn) in its third quarter of 2020.

LBG’s trade union Unite called this decision “shameful” and asked the lender to postpone its restructuring plan immediately.

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Initially, the lender halted its plans to trim its branch network to help customers and employees to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The spokeswoman for LBG said: “We paused these closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and, after careful consideration, these planned closures will take place in March and April 2021.”

Unite’s criticism

LBG’s trade union Unite has called the bank’s latest decision “unjustified and damaging”.

Unite national officer Rob MacGregor said: “Unite has opposed these bank branch closures at every step. The decision to go ahead and close 56 branches is unjustified and damaging.

“The pandemic has highlighted the vital role our local bank branches play in providing an essential service to the community.

“These closures do not just cut a vital service from communities but also force customers to travel further to stand in larger crowds of customers queuing outside busier branches.

“The union has urged the bank to halt the branch closure programme and instead assess the impacts of any proposed closures on members, customers, and the local economic activity.”