THE number of jobs likely to be axed at Hampshire bases of insurance giant Zurich has climbed to 174, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Fifteen of the posts will be filled by cheap workers in India and 26 staff in the Whiteley office already have their marching orders and will be out of a job by Christmas.

The firm, which made more than £1.13bn in profit last year, initially said 130 workers faced the axe but then raised the figure to 148, pointing out 15 jobs are to be created in Portsmouth.

It later emerged that a further 26 staff from Zurich's Countrywide arm, also based in Whiteley, had already been made redundant just before Christmas.

Other staff on the redundancy hit list will go early next year.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said staff were fuming.

"People are upset and angry," he said.

"They are upset at the way it was handled. We find out a month before Christmas that we will not have jobs in April. There are very distraught people.

"I believe it will hit customer service. People who have just had an accident will be talking to someone in India, who doesn't know what they are talking about."

Alan Wood, general secretary of the Union of Financial Services, which represents Zurich workers, said: "People were angry, upset, emotional and disbelieving but these are the range of emotions you would expect to see.

"Theoretically, half of them could find new jobs with Zurich but we know that people are not going to move to Newcast-le or Cardiff, which is where most of the new jobs are."

Staff are being offered generous redundancy terms after the union struck a national deal not to oppose 'offshoring' in return for improved terms and training.

Zurich, which aims to create a claims handling centre of excellence in Portsmouth, says the move will "enhance customer satisfaction, process efficiency and where possible reduce costs".