MORE than 1,800 Hampshire workers of telecoms giant BT are today reeling from their second major jobs blow in six months.

After announcing dramatic plans to axe 10,000 jobs in December, the company yesterday revealed it had not only axed 5,000 more than expected but that it now planned to cut a further 15,000 jobs in the coming year, ten per cent of its workforce.

A spokesman for BT said it was not possible to say how many jobs would go in Hampshire or how many of the 15,000 that have gone in the past 12 months had come from the county.

She said cuts would be “peppered around the globe”.

BT is aiming to cut the jobs through natural wastage, non replacement and voluntary redundancy and claims to have no plans for compulsory lay-offs.

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Bosses revealed in the annual financial results that its workforce fell from 162,000 to 147,000 in the year to March. The firm had predicted a reduction of 10,000 but said the extra cuts largely came from agency staff.

A similar total reduction is expected next year, said a spokesman. The firm gave no indication of the likely number of directly employed or agency staff jobs which will be cut.

BT also revealed it is considering bringing back some work which has been outsourced to countries including India in recent years. A programme of installing fibre broadband might be accelerated, which could create 1,000 jobs.

BT also announced it would be increasing its pensions payments from £280m to £525m a year, although there was no new figure for the size of its deficit.

It said it had worked closely with unions to ensure that alternative work is found for any members of staff who did not volunteer for redundancy but whose position has gone.

More than 2,000 staff have been found alternative work within BT and the company said its voluntary approach was different from other companies who have recently laid off staff.