Employees' union prepares to take the bank to the Employment Tribunal over a mandatory three-days-a-week office requirement
Santander is facing potential legal action after instructing its newly acquired TSB workforce to attend the office at least three days a week, a policy set to take effect from April 2027.
The high street lender completed its acquisition of TSB in April and has since been aligning the operations and policies of both banks. TSB had previously operated without a fixed minimum number of days requiring staff to be in the office.
The TBU Union is preparing to bring a case before the Employment Tribunal, citing concerns that the new requirement will disadvantage employees who cannot comply due to personal or medical circumstances. Talks between management and affected staff to explore individual arrangements are reported to be continuing.
Santander purchased TSB for £2.9 billion and has indicated it intends to phase out the TSB brand over time. The bank has also confirmed 130 redundancies following the takeover.
The dispute follows a wider post-pandemic trend of employers tightening office attendance requirements.
TSB said: "We informed all colleagues of the changes in June that will take effect from 1st April 2027 that will bring TSB in line with Santander policy at three days a week. As such, we are currently operating our standard policy at TSB across teams – ahead of implementation in April 2027. We have made it clear that there will be exceptions and policy put in place for those who require flexibility for personal and health reasons – and these conversations are already under way between management and colleagues."
A Santander spokesperson said: "Santander UK colleagues who are based on-site are required to attend a Santander office for an average of 12 days a month (calculated over a quarter), which provides significant flexibility to manage attendance around individual circumstances."
The Communication Workers Union, which represents Santander UK staff, stated at the time of the takeover that it had raised concerns about the impact of branch closures on employees and was "fully committed to minimising job losses." It added: "We want staff to be given retraining, reskilling and redeployment opportunities where this is possible… We believe Santander UK should be doing everything it can to protect its workforce and the local economy. We will remain engaged with the bank to help our members achieve their desired outcomes."
TSB serves five million customers across 175 branches, with a workforce of approximately 5,000. Santander UK has approximately 14 million customers and around 350 branches, with roughly 18,000 staff prior to the latest round of redundancies.
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