Defence company BAE Systems plans to close three UK-based factories.

A spokesperson from the company, which currently employs 1,820 people in the UK, says Guildford, Leeds and Telford will close with the loss of some 330 jobs; 50 jobs will be lost at Newcastle and seven jobs will be lost at Leicester, among other efficiency savings. 

Dugald McIntosh, operations manager at Elan’s defence division, which works with BAE, told Recruiterat least half of the defence contractors had announced redundancy programmes and he expects the trend to continue. 

“Demand for contractors has held and perm hires are down, but not by as much as other sectors. Most cuts are being made in the administration and back office support. Where we are seeing demand is areas where there is deployment, such as equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan and upgrades for that equipment.”