A Manchester-based financial services firm has announced it will cut around 200 members of staff due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Together, a specialist mortgage and secured loan provider, made the announcement in an update to the markets on Monday, saying the redundancies were a "necessary" step to "shape our business for the future".
The Cheadle firm, which employs over 700 people, said the move comes ahead of a predicted "deep and sustained global recession", the end of the furlough scheme, and mortgage payment deferral schemes at the end of October.
Gerald Grimes, group CEO designate of Together, said: "While it remains too early to reliably estimate the full impact of Covid-19, we expect the remainder of 2020 and possibly 2021 to be challenging for most businesses.
"Together entered the pandemic in a strong position and, as we move out of lockdown, we are taking the necessary steps to shape our business for the future: putting plans in place to mitigate any downside risks; ensuring our cost base is appropriate; and accelerating our transformation programmes to make us more efficient and further improve the experience for our customers.
"With the actions we are taking, we believe Together will emerge from the crisis well placed to support our customers and to play our part in supporting the UK's economic recovery."
