Plans to axe 450 jobs at Nationwide have been described as the most significant loss at the building society for many years.

The Adver exclusively reported that the building society, which has its headquarters in Swindon was looking to 'streamline' certain parts of its workforce, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.

These included mortgage adviser roles across the country, as well as the cutting back of central support functions mostly based at the Swindon headquarters.

General secretary of the Nationwide Staff Group Union, Tim Rose said he was surprised that the losses are deemed necessary.

In a message to members, as reported by the Bournemouth Echo, he said: “The proposed changes will have an impact on over 1,350 employees, with approximately 960 being placed at risk of redundancy, potentially resulting in around 450 job losses.

“Although change programmes, with redundancies, have been an ongoing feature of life at Nationwide, this represents the most significant loss of jobs for many years.

“NGSU is extremely disappointed at the potential scale of redundancies.

"We are surprised by how the organisation finds itself in a position of needing to reduce duplication and bureaucracy when members will be well aware that efficiency and cost control initiatives have been an ongoing and constant feature of the society’s strategy and operational priorities for a number of years.

“However, we acknowledge that the controls to restrict recruitment, in place since the summer, have helped to reduce the number of roles at risk.

“Although our experience of change programmes suggests that some impacted employees will welcome the chance to leave Nationwide and pursue new opportunities, with a period of security provided by a severance package, many will be extremely anxious about their future, particularly at a time of economic uncertainty and cost of living pressures.”

Nationwide employs 6,500 staff solely at its Pipers Way headquarters.

The building society's latest available financial results from November showed its underlying profit went from £850 million in the first half of 2021 to £980m in the first half of 2022 as income grew.

The half-year results for 2022 show that member financial benefit more than doubled to £320m as the mutual aimed to pay savers the best rates it can afford.

While investigating tip-offs about the incoming redundancies, the Adver also heard rumours of the Pipers Way head office possibly being closed in the near future.

Nationwide's spokesman responded to this: "We haven’t made any decisions to close offices in Swindon.”