Cheadle lender outlines plans for recovery after impact of coronavirus

Cheadle based specialist lender, Together, has announced plans to cut around 200 jobs as it lays out recovery plans following financial pressures and uncertainty brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The financial services group, which offers specialist mortgages and secured loans, has been hard hit by the crisis. Together revealed that payment deferrals peaked at around 22% of customers by value during the pandemic. In line with government advice, Together had offered payment holidays to customers, however deferral periods are now coming to an end. The firm has a loan book of £4.2 billion.

The Cheadle based lender employs around 750 staff nationwide, mostly in its Stockport Head Office, and has announced it has opened an employee consultation process to reduce headcount by around 200 employees as it plans its recovery. While lending volumes are cautiously beginning to increase again, Together does not expect to return to pre-Covid-19 activity for some time.

At the same time, the firm also plans to accelerate modernisation and transformation programmes, digitisation and automation to improve customer service and processing efficiencies in order to ensure Together is in a strong position after the crisis.

Chief executive designate Gerald Grimes said:

While it remains too early to reliably estimate the full impact of COVID-19, we expect the remainder of 2020 and possibly 2021 to be challenging for most businesses.

“Together entered the pandemic in a strong position and, as we move out of lockdown, we are taking the necessary steps to shape our business for the future: putting plans in place to mitigate any downside risks, ensuring our cost base is appropriate, and accelerating our transformation programmes to make us more efficient and further improve the experience for our customers.

“With the actions we are taking, we believe Together will emerge from the crisis well placed to support our customers and to play our part in supporting the UK’s economic recovery.”