HUNDREDS of Hampshire jobs are today in jeopardy - just months after bosses told staff they were safe.

The axe is hanging over 470 workers at the Abbey call centre in Segensworth as the company considers switching operations to India.

But earlier this year worried staff were assured that it would be centres in the north of the country that would close and that the Hampshire jobs were safe.

It has now emerged that 470 jobs at Segensworth could still go after it was revealed that the banking firm is continuing to review all operational sites in the UK, in particular all billing and call centres.

The move is part of an ongoing cost-cutting exercise to save £90m over the next ten years.

In a joint statement by Abbey and their IT suppliers EDS the bank confirmed that moving operations abroad was still an option.

A spokesman said: "Abbey is undertaking a review of all its operational sites as part of an ongoing programme to streamline the business.

"The aim is to improve cost savings with improvements such as reducing duplication of roles, transferring work to larger sites and basing some operations offshore."

Rumours of jobs being moved to India first surfaced almost a year ago. But workers at Abbey's personal loan and mortgage processing centre in Whiteley breathed a sigh of relief in January when the company announced it would be 400 jobs from centres in Warrington and Derby that would be transferred to Bangalore in India.

Abbey assured Segensworth workers at the time that their jobs would be safe but news of the on-going review has raised fresh concern over job security at the centre that is one of the biggest employers at the Solent Business Park where it is based.

Winchester MP Mark Oaten, in whose constituency the centre lies, said: "This is disappointing news. We need to know more to put staff concerns at rest. I expect to speak to Abbey this week," he added.

Councillor Sean Woodward, leader of the council in Fareham where the majority of workers at the centre live, said it was wrong of Abbey to keep their staff guessing over their future.

"I think it is very unfair of Abbey to treat their employees in this way. They said just months ago that the jobs would be safe and now there is yet more uncertainty," he said.

Abbey is one of several companies in the financial sector that has started moving jobs abroad.

Lloyds TSB and Zurich Financial Services have already carried out pilot schemes in Bangalore where Indian workers are employed for much less than their British equivalents.

At Abbey's Whiteley branch a call centre worker earns between £12,000 and £15,000, substantially more than the £2,600 take home pay of an Indian worker.