Nearly 80 staff at the city centre head office of Provident Financial Group are facing possible redundancy as the firm plans to axe a total of 340 jobs.

Staff at Provident’s consumer credit division, both at the Thornton Road head office and around the UK were told of the planned cuts this afternoon (Tues) and will find out their fate during a 45-day consultation process.

In Bradford 78 positions are affected, with the remaining 262 among agents and other field staff across the UK and Northern ireland.

The move is in response to falling demand for the group’s traditional ‘doorstep’ loans and shrinking customer numbers Conversely, Provident's credit card operation Vanquis Bank is booming and continues to recruit call centre staff and expects to have created 250 new roles this year..

Peter Crook , Provident chief executive, said: “The economic environment continues to be difficult for our customers as their incomes remain under pressure. This has an impact on the performance of our home credit business and we have reluctantly taken the decision potentially to reduce the number of roles.

“The changes we are proposing will reduce costs and better align our staff resource with the current requirements of the business.”