Prudential inks £40m Capita outsourcing deal

Prudential has signed a £40m contract to outsource its UK life and pensions support to Capita.

Around 450 staff in Prudential's customer services and support services operations in Belfast will move across to Capita under Tupe employment transfer regulations this autumn.

Prudential's Belfast operation currently handles a range of services including death claims, matured and surrendered policies, and general UK customer support. It also provides a direct-to-customer telephone sales operation.

Capita already has an existing relationship with Prudential, working on the company's international cross-border life assurance portfolio since 2003, and this new three-year deal includes an option for Prudential to renew on a rolling basis.

Prudential said earlier this year that it is aiming to save £150m per year in its UK operations by 2009 as part of a group-wide cost-cutting drive.

Nick Prettejohn, CEO of Prudential UK, praised the Belfast staff for continuing to provide good customer service during a "difficult time".

He said in a statement: "This outsourcing agreement helps provide them with continued employment and enables us to maintain the highest standards of customer service while delivering the efficiencies and cost savings we announced earlier in the year."