If you’re an IT contractor working at Lloyds Banking Group, you will be no stranger to pay cuts. Lloyds has regularly rolled out unilateral rate cuts to the thousands of contractors on its books over the past five years and is set to implement another 10% reduction in April.
Contractors at Lloyds Banking Group were informed of the rate cut last week Share on twitter, according to sources close to the situation, but will be enforcing the cut on any renewals in April to avoid a mid-contract reduction. The bank is also requiring contractors to take two weeks unpaid leave during the summer, recruitment sources claiming.
Lloyds is the latest UK bank to implement ‘put up or shut up’ contract rate cuts across the organisation. Last year, as we revealed, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays all rolled out 10% rate cuts for their contractors. Barclays’ cut affected all contingency staff across the UK and US, or around 12,000 people.
In 2009, Lloyds cut contractor rates by 15% and offshored a number of tech functions to India, following the moves of most wholesale banks at that time. And again in 2012, another 10% unilateral rate cut was implemented during a period when the majority of banks were cutting pay for contractors.
This time around recruiters suggest that contractors are considering their options. There’s been a trickle of CVs out of the bank from disgruntled contractors already working on lower rates than other institutions. However, with some of the largest employers of contractors – namely, Barclays and RBS – all offering reduced rates too, opportunities for IT contractors are limited.
Lloyds didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.