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Sky has announced plans to eliminate 2,000 jobs across its customer service centres and shut down three sites in the UK, impacting approximately 7% of its workforce.
The media and telecommunications company, acquired by US giant Comcast for £30bn in 2018, stated that these changes aim to make the business more adaptable for the future by shifting customer service from phone-based interactions to digital platforms. As part of this restructuring, Sky will close its contact centres in Stockport, Sheffield, and Leeds Central, reducing its UK locations from 10 to seven. Additionally, operations in Dunfermline and Newcastle will be affected. The company is currently consulting with employees and trade unions regarding the proposed changes.
Alongside these cuts, Sky is making a multimillion-pound investment in its Livingston site, transforming it into a “centre of excellence” to support its transition to a more digital-focused approach. With declining call volumes, the company expects the number of annual customer calls to decrease from 25 million to 17 million in the coming years.
A spokesperson for Sky explained: “We are reshaping our business to offer faster, simpler, and more digital customer service. Our customers increasingly prefer flexible options—speaking to us on the phone when necessary while managing everyday tasks through digital channels.”
The company is also investing in advanced digital technology to enhance its service, ensuring reliability and 24/7 availability. Sky stated that it surveyed 10,000 customers, who expressed a desire for more choices regarding how and when they interact with the company. Despite the shift to digital, Sky assured that “thousands of expert advisers” will still be available to provide personalized phone support when needed.
This follows a previous round of job cuts in which Sky reduced its workforce by 1,000 employees last year, primarily from its installation team. In October, the company reported that its annual losses had doubled, citing increased spending on programming, broadband services, and hardware such as mobile devices and Sky Glass TVs.
