Three Sky call centres in the north of England are to be closed and another two reduced in size, with around 2,000 job cuts.

The changes, announced to staff yesterday, will affect around 7% of the media and telecoms company’s UK workforce, and are subject to consultation.

Three of Sky’s 10 call centres – Leeds, Sheffield and Stockport – will close, with offices in Newcastle and Dunfermline scaled back.

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The company, which was acquired by US media giant Comcast in 2018, cited changing customer preferences and declining call volumes.

A survey of 10,000 customers found they wanted flexibility in how they contacted the company, with most people preferring digital access for day-to-day tasks such as paying a bill or making changes to their contract.

Sky plans to invest in “advanced digital services” to replace phone contact services and a state-of-the-art centre of excellence in Livingston, near Edinburgh, as part of a transformation “to deliver quicker, simpler and more digital customer service”.

A spokesman for Sky said: “We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler, and more digital customer service. Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.

“We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable, and available 24/7. This is about building a future-ready Sky that continues to put our customers and their needs first.”

Sky receives around 25 million calls from its customers across Europe each year, but this is expected to reduce by a third over the coming few years

In January 2024, Sky announced it was cutting around 1,000 jobs, with a significant number of engineering roles affected.

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