Sky UK Ponders Plan to Axe 3 Call Centres and Cut 2,000 Jobs
Sky UK (Sky Broadband, Sky TV, Sky Mobile etc.) has confirmed that as many as 2,000 workers (7% of its total workforce) could be facing redundancy as part of a proposed plan to close three of its ten UK customer service centres, which reflects the company’s sites in Stockport, Sheffield and Leeds Central.
The change, which is said to have been prompted by changing consumer preferences (i.e. they’re focusing more on online messaging and emails) and declining call volumes (Sky expects this to decrease by a third in the next few years), will apparently also impact the company’s operations in Dunfermline and Newcastle too. But the details of the latter remain unclear and subject to consultation.
According to the Sky News report, Sky intends to try and mitigate against the impact of this by making a multi-million pound investment in its Livingston site to create a “centre of excellence” that can “deliver quicker, simpler and more digital customer service“.
Advertisement
A Sky UK (Comcast) spokesperson said:
“We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler, and more digital customer service.
Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.
We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable, and available 24/7.
This is about building a future-ready Sky that continues to put our customers and their needs first.”
We tend to take the mention of a “more digital customer service” as meaning greater use of self-service online communications tools and AI style chatbots (something we’ve already seen other broadband and mobile operators adopt), although Sky’s announcement wasn’t terribly specific.
According to Ofcom’s figures for consumer complaints (example), Sky has consistently attracted some of the lowest complaint levels of all the industry’s major providers of broadband, phone, TV and mobile services. But this will also make it easy to spot if their customer support quality starts to decline post-closure. However, the regulator takes time to catch up with current events, which means we won’t start to see the first impacts from today’s news until late 2025 or early 2026.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
« UK ISP Trooli to Shut BDUK Funded Hybrid Rural Broadband Network
Ha! Comcast strikes again.
I am guessing they will use one/some of their call centres in the US to support UK customers soon.
And then outsource the work to people who speak a very broken version of English and have no idea what the technology they’re supposed to be assisting customers looks like let alone how it works?
Yeah brilliant, I cannot see what could go wrong
Huge annoyance of mine is these foreign call centres, they’re just total garbage
@Mr Hotspot +1 couldn’t agree more. Sky’s customer service has been reasonable to good in the time I’ve been with them, but I now expect it to tank. I feel for the hardworking people who are losing their jobs, too.
My experience of contacting sky for the simplest of things results in hours of tedious IVR menus and sspeaking to clueless people who always just ‘pass it on’
If the customer experience can get worse then just pray nothing goes wrong
Declining call volumes? It took me 20 minutes to get through a few days ago
Why does it feel like they’re going to become more like VM’s CS in the near future?
The whole Pay TV model has to be brought into question. As the country moves towards streaming people are going to want to pick and choose on an ad-hoc basis rather than have bespoke equipment installed and sign up for a fixed term contract, indeed Sky already does this with NOW TV and this week for the first time a Netflix show topped the UK TV ratings. As a result there is going to be less demand on call centres.
My friend and her mum have been working at the Stockport branch (south Manchester) for a long-time now and they won’t be happy at all. A lot of dedicated years at skys.
This represents a complex yet critical decision for the organisation. I’m certain that most employees at these UK call centres are absolutely brilliant; however, that’s not the central issue. The reality is that customer expectations have evolved significantly.
Today’s customers demand 24/7 support delivered through web interfaces, chat systems, and more automated solutions. This is what I define as Business Transformation—a necessary evolution for any organisation like Sky to remain competitive. Without embracing this change, they risk becoming the equivalent of Kodak, BHS, or Comet etc I.E once-dominant brands that failed to adapt. They must reinvent themselves, and they need to do it rapidly.
You’re absolutely correct. It is also very much a generational thing. Older people will typically pick up their landline in the first instance and, unlike their younger counterparts, won’t consider reaching out via the alternative methods you mentioned. Unfortunately only one of those demographics are getting any bigger.
No pondering. They definitely will be getting rid of the 2000 staff. I’m on one of them. They’ll be outsourcing to India and Africa where 1 uk staff members salary would cover 20-30 staff abroad.
Once Comcast took over this was bound to happen. They only care about the bottom line.
Sorry to hear that, but sadly all companies just care about the bottom line, as long as they are making big profits for their shareholders, they are happy. I keep hoping the place i work for would lay me off, they keep reducing staff.
Not surprised at all they are doing to save money nothing else. I tried to call Sky to get Sports and movies removed from my Sky Stream package as it was added accidently and would not allow me to remove online. it was a nightmare to say the least and I used to work for Sky at one point and seen the writing on the wall once Comcast took them over.
I don’t think Sky will profiteer as much from Gen z’s. They mostly use tiktok, PH and firesticks to entertain. Whilst Baby boomer and millennials are around during the top point for cable TV as Internet doesn’t exist during a portion of their generation. The latest generation are reluctant enough on TV licence let alone Sky’s footy package for another £60 a month with a cough cough yearly price rise.
May have a better customer service, unless it have improved over the last 15 years.
The last time I phoned sky about a fault with a friend’s broadband, it was like walking through treacle.
I do feel for the people losing their jobs, but sadly that is happening all over the place, even where I work people are losing jobs or being pushed to take jobs that are not suitable. Blame the Labour government, while they are not to blame for all of it, they are for a lot of what is happening now.
I’ve been with an online only mobile phone service for over 10 years without needing to call them. Online communications are much easier and can be done at the customers convenience, not restricted to call centre opening hours.
Lately I keep getting the rubbish that is Bulgaria.
Terrible customer service and Sky should be embarrassed.
Yet another reason I will be leaving once contract is done.
They must be do something good if that team has survived since the easynet days
The real reason is the new labour payroll taxes that start this month. When there’s a punishment for employing people, companies have to employ less
Expect more mass layoffs incoming
I much prefer chat/email support, so long as my messages don’t simply go into the void.
I hope some of the employees can be retained and diverted towards those alternative support channels.