BMW is offering Swindon workers £10,000 to move to Oxford.

The company is axing 100 employees from its Swindon plant, where door panels for the Mini are built, by the end of the year.

The manufacturer is offering any workers who are prepared to take a job in Oxford £10,000 to make the move.

BMW spokesman Angela Stangroom said: “In order to make the move as smooth as possible, a one-off payment of £10,000 net, or a relocation allowance in line with BMW Group’s usual policy, is being offered.

“There are currently 40 associates who are surplus to capacity at Plant Swindon, and it is projected that this number will increase to approximately 100 by the end of the year.

“Should employees wish to leave the company on a voluntary basis, packages will be available.

“Alternatively, if they wish to transfer to Oxford there will be one-off payments available.

“If an employee wishes to move home to Oxford there is a package available for that as well.”

All 950 employees currently working at the Swindon plant are permanent staff rather than agency workers.

Ms Stangroom said the arrival of up to 100 people from Swindon at the Cowley works would not significantly alter the headcount.

Nor would it change the balance between agency and permanent staff at Oxford because of normal fluctuations of labour, she said.

She added: “We think the balance between agency and permanent staff will be about the same at Oxford at the end of the year.

“But it’s too early to say for sure.

“We don’t even know yet how many associates in Swindon will take up the offer to move jobs to Oxford.”

Union officials at Swindon said they did not expect many volunteers for the move because proposals to bus workers to Cowley during work time were still under discussion.

About 3,700 workers are now employed at the Mini plant in Cowley, of whom between 250 and 300 are employed by the agency Right4Staff.

A year ago about 4,200 people worked at the factory.

Tuesday will mark one year since 850 agency workers were let go from the plant because of a fall in demand.

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