ROYAL Sun Alliance staff in Ipswich have today been told that their office will close and they will have to find new jobs by this time next year.The 240 staff employed at the company's More Th>an office in Museum Street were called to a meeting at the Ipswich Corn Exchange to be briefed on the closure of the Ipswich branch and of another in Hinkley, Leicestershire.

ROYAL Sun Alliance staff in Ipswich have today been told that their office will close and they will have to find new jobs by this time next year.

The 240 staff employed at the company's More Th>an office in Museum Street were called to a meeting at the Ipswich Corn Exchange to be briefed on the closure of the Ipswich branch and of another in Hinkley, Leicestershire.

They were told a support programme would begin tomorrow which would help staff find alternative work either through retraining or redeployment to another of the finance company's sections and they would be given one-to-one advice.

A company spokesman said the reason for the cutbacks was to maintain competitiveness in a difficult financial services market.

Royal Sun Alliance and More Th>an are part of the Rawlinson Alliance group and staff would be encouraged to apply for vacancies in any of the group's other areas across the country, the spokesman added.

More Th>n had already said it was "outsourcing options" to India but the spokesman said this would not be happening with the role carried out by the two branches which were to be closed.

In September, Royal Sun Alliance said 1,000 jobs were under threat across the country. These were additional to those cuts announced today.