THE Liverpool office of debt collection agency Intrum Justitia will see staff numbers cut “substantially” after the company announced it was scaling back its UK business.

The Swedish group yesterday said it was looking to axe 247 jobs in its UK arm.

Most of those roles will be axed from its UK head office in Liverpool, although the company would not reveal how many people will lose their jobs.

It follows a turbulent few months for Intrum’s UK arm.

In April, it said it wanted to expand its Liverpool base and take on at least 100 new staff.

But, days later, the Swedish parent group said it had no plans to expand in the UK, and several days later it announced Chris Savage had resigned as regional managing director due to “diverging views on the appropriate strategy for the UK & Ireland region”.

In June, Intrum announced it was restructuring its UK credit management services arm.

Yesterday, it said it was cutting back on many debt collection services and instead focusing on buying and servicing debt portfolios from other companies. Earlier this year, the Liverpool office alone employed 230 people, but, since the group started consulting over its restructuring, an unspecified number of people have already left.

The group, which also has an office in Stratford, sold its Scottish arm earlier this year.

Intrum Justitia’s regional managing director, Marcel van Es, said he “did not think it would be appropriate” to reveal the numbers of people in Liverpool affected by this decision.

He said: “We went through a consultation period for the last three months. During that period, a lot of people took other jobs.

“But we will be reducing our staff in our Liverpool office substantially.”

The group’s president and chief executive, Lars Wollung, said: “Intrum Justitia has been running a major loss for five years now in its UK region.

“We came to the point where we felt we had really tried everything we could. We have restructured, we have moved offices, we have spoken to clients over these years.

“What we are doing in the UK is focusing more on successful business areas, primarily purchased debt.

“We will remain in Liverpool with a smaller unit than we do today. We also hope we will be able to invest more in the purchased debt market in England.”