TalkTalk reveals it is to cut 580 jobs

Some 580 jobs are to be axed at broadband provider TalkTalk as part of plans to save up to £50 million, the company announced yesterday.

The firm, which was spun off from Carphone Warehouse last year, said most of the cuts would affect administration functions, such as human resources, IT and finance. The job losses account for almost 13 per cent of TalkTalk's 4,500-strong UK workforce.

The job losses will hit its sites across London, Warrington, Manchester, and Preston. It confirmed that consumer-facing jobs would remain largely unaffected by the job losses.

The announcement comes as part of a restructure led by chief executive Dido Harding to create a central support team and to improve service quality.

The group has been under fire over customer service problems in recent months following last year's takeover of rival Tiscali's UK business.

Ofcom has investigated the firm twice in the past year over customer billing errors and phone service mis-selling claims.

Harding said: "Our priority is to run more efficiently and effectively while continuing to enhance the quality of service we provide.

"To that end we have maintained our level of customer support and safeguarded customer service roles as much as we possibly can."

TalkTalk has about 4.25 million customers.