ALMOST 2,000 jobs are being axed at insurance giant Aviva as part of an overhaul to save £300 million a year.

Unite said it was “shocked” by chief executive Maurice Tulloch’s announcement confirming that the company would shed 1,800 workers over the next three years.

Mr Tulloch said: “Reducing Aviva’s costs is essential to remain competitive and this means tough decisions and job losses, which I do not take lightly.”

The multinational company, which employs 16,000 people in Britain, claims that it will seek to keep redundancies to a minimum, with some of the workforce reduction taking place through normal staff turnover.

The group said savings would also be made across central costs, contractor and consultant spending, reduction in project spending and in other areas.

It has not given a breakdown of which teams or offices will be affected, but said the cuts will be made across its British and international operations.

Aviva also announced plans to split its British life and general insurance businesses to “enable stronger accountability and greater management focus.”

However, the company has been unclear about the fate of workers at major offices in Norwich, Bristol, Sheffield, York, Perth and Bishopbriggs outside Glasgow.

Unite Aviva officer Andy Case said: “The scale of this role reduction will be met with disbelief across the company.

“Unite has arranged urgent discussions with Aviva management in order to ascertain the rationale for cutting an already extremely stretched workforce.

“Unite has made it clear to management that the union will strongly challenge any attempt to make compulsory redundancies.

“Instead, any staff reductions must be found through volunteers, natural attrition, reducing reliance on contractors and redeployment.”