Firm offers interview hope to workers fearing redundancy

Boldon-based EC Business Solutions is inviting staff worried about their jobs at Utilitywise for interviews, which could lead to a new job straight away.

Utilitywise, which employed 400 people at its South Shields base in the former Garlands call centre building before moving to North Tyneside, announced earlier this month it was cutting jobs.

One hundred roles across its sites in North Tyneside, Portsmouth and Redditch will go, although most people will be redeployed into new roles, with fewer than 50 people expected to go in total.

Michael Rossiter, operations manager at EC Business Solutions, said: “It’s always a stressful time when faced with redundancy and we hope we can offer positions for those who could find themselves without jobs in the coming weeks.

“As a relatively new company we have expanded quite rapidly, and are keen to add new members to our team.

“We welcome all applications with previous energy experience and hope we can be of help to those seeking new opportunities.”

A statement from Utilitywise advised: “We expect less than 50 people to actually leave the business as a result of these changes, while at the same time we expect our total overall headcount to grow over the course of the financial year.”

EC Business Solutions has quadrupled its team within a year, growing from a brokerage of only four people to 16.

Utilitywise has begun formal consultation with employees who could he affected by its decision, which involves creating more customer-facing roles as it focuses on growing its enterprise division.

It expects its overall number of staff across the UK to rise to nearly 1,500.

Anyone who would like to apply for a job at EC Business Solutions can email their CV and covering letter to [email protected]