AROUND 50 jobs are under threat at Barclays in Poole after the bank announced a shake-up of its human resources operation.

The move – which involves outsourcing some jobs to India and Lithuania – could also mean some staff from other parts of the country being redeployed to Poole.

A spokesperson said: “On Monday January 6, Barclays begun a consultation with HR employees about a reorganisation of part of its HR Services function. We will work closely with affected colleagues to minimise any compulsory redundancies.”

The move affects around 80 administrative staff across the UK, with some jobs going to global HR service centre abroad and some being re-deployed to Poole and London.

The bank says it will improve the efficiency of the bank’s HR services function.

A statement said: “Barclays will be working with the individuals affected and offering them one-to-one support to minimise the impact. “Our objective is to mitigate compulsory job losses by implementing a voluntary redundancy programme and offering relocation assistance to redeploy as many people as possible to those roles moving to Poole and London.

“Any redundancies will take place from March 2014.”

It said it had consulted with the Unite union and held regular meetings over the changes.

“Whilst it is difficult to predict due to voluntary redundancies and relocations, we anticipate approximately 50 roles in Poole being impacted,” the statement added.

Barclays’ Poole operation was drastically reduced following the announcement in 2007 that 1,100 jobs – more than half its Barclays House workforce – would be axed.

In 2012, more than 100 jobs were lost at Poole when the bank revealed it was outsourcing its pensions administration function.

Ian Girling, chief executive of Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Whilst the latest indicators show the economy as a whole is improving, the recovery will take some time and the economy will remain fragile.

“Redundancies are clearly not good news for the local economy. However it is encouraging to see there is growth in the UK employment market in both the private and public sector so the job market is easing.

“We also continue to see high levels of new businesses in Dorset and a good level of support is available to those start-ups.”