Norwich Union, soon to be known as Aviva, is to cut 1,100 jobs by the end of 2009.

Norwich Union Life has announced it is to shed up to 1,100 jobs across its UK operating group by the end of 2009.

Norwich Union Life owned by Aviva, the fifth* largest insurance group, announced the losses following the near completion of a series of major projects undertaken over the past three years  to simplify its operations and improve efficiency. A number of areas have been identified in which the number of roles can be reduced – the majority of which are in business change and IT, with the remainder spread across the rest of the business.

The UK’s largest general insurer say they are hoping there will be minimal impact as the majority of the losses occur through natural turnover and redeployment, along with the closure of a number of vacancies.

In addition to the 1,100 job losses, 590 contract positions will also be closed over the next few months.

Mark Hodges, Chief Executive at Norwich Union Life, said: “We have made significant progress in improving our operational efficiency and are also nearing completion on a series of major change projects. Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable.

“Making decisions that affect our people is always difficult and we are fully committed to doing everything we possibly can to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies. Our priority now is to work with everyone affected by today’s announcement and to support them however we can.”

Norwich Union will be renamed Aviva in June this year. Aviva was created following the merger of CGU and Norwich Union in 2000, after which they were known as CGNU until a rebrand in 2002 to Aviva.

*based on gross worldwide premiums for the year ended 31 December 2008.