SCORES of Southampton-based Skandia staff could see their jobs disappear overseas in a £104m Indian takeaway, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The financial services giant has unveiled plans to outsource 220 IT jobs from its Southampton headquarters, as part of a move to switch a total of 250 posts off its payroll.

Of the 220 jobs, 126 are currently filled by permanent Southampton staff, with the remaining 94 either vacant or filled by temporary workers.

The losses, more than 15 per cent of Skandia's 1,440-strong Southampton workforce, affect mainly highly skilled positions attracting salaries in the region of £30,000.

It is the first big swing of the axe in the company's plan to shed up to 600 jobs, which was revealed in the Daily Echo in June, and comes in the same week cigarette giant BAT finally ended manufacturing in the city with the loss of 550 posts.

Skandia has yet to make a final decision, but the frontrunning firm is Indian technology giant HCL, leaving workers fearing their jobs could be shipped off to one of 300 sites it operates on the sub-continent.

Bosses have negotiated a deal that gives staff the same terms and conditions they currently enjoy, but they only have a job guaranteed for six months.

When it ends, the new firm - almost certain to be HCL - will be free to move jobs abroad and axe staff.

Skandia human resources drector Mark O'Connell said he thought redundancies ithin a year were likely as work was moved abroad. He added that jobs would be likely to be switched overseas in "dribs and drabs" rather than in one lump.

He said: "I think it will mean job losses - the only assurance I can give is that there will be no compulsory redundancies before June 2007 and this will give staff some reassurance and opportunities to prepare properly for the next employment opportunity.

"Skandia has ensured that all those transferred will receive the same benefits and that does include redundancy packages.

"The preferred partner has a track record of job opportunities in the UK but has a significant number of job opportunities offshore. It would not be unreasonable to expect some if not most of those jobs to go offshore.

"I think it is a sad day. It is clearly a change in Skandia's history. We have been hugely successful and the future should be a lot stronger with a partner who is going to help us achieve our growth aspirations. The key point is this strength will give security to our other employees."

On top of the 220 Southampton posts, there are 30 jobs being lost from a Skandia centre on the Isle of Man.

Skandia unveiled plans to shed up to 600 jobs after a hostile £4 billion takeover in February by South African finance giant Old Mutual, although an earlier plan to make cuts had been leaked to the media after it was discovered by staff on the company intranet.

The life insurer carried out a "thorough review'' to see how business at Skandia could be grown and decided to make savings of £70m a year, largely through job losses.

Boss Jim Sutclife said: "The bulk of it will be by way of natural turnover."

Started 30 years ago, HCL is one of India's oldest IT companies. Today it is made up of approximately 40,000 people operating from 16 countries.

Nick Poyntz-Wright, the Skandia UK Group CEO, said it was vital to restructure the IT systems to support their ambitions to grow.

He said: "IT is central to our business and it's essential we have the capability and flexible capacity to deliver products and services that will enable us to be leaders in our market.

"The companies we are working with are proven leaders in IT technology services and they are ideally placed to provide us with a service that can flex to meet our requirements in a cost effective way."