Skipton Building Society is to increase the size of its telephone service centre by almost 50%.

The Society is creating 71 new roles within Skipton Direct, its telephone service centre based in the town, representing an additional annual investment of over £1million per year.

The additional team members will include specialist mortgage advisers, general customer service professionals and analysts.

David Cutter, Skipton Group chief executive, said: “We grew our mortgage book by 9.3% last year and aim to increase it by a similar amount in 2014 and beyond, helping people to achieve their homeownership aspirations.

“We also grew our membership by more than 21,000, and increased our savings balances by 8.4%, a reflection of the competitive products we have on offer.

“The personal level of service we provide – both through Skipton Direct and our national network of branches – is one of the things our customers tell us they value most about their dealings with us.

“I’m delighted that we’re about to invest in these new roles in order to maintain our telephone service at a really high standard, and we plan to begin recruiting this week.”

Claire Davey, head of Skipton Direct, added: “We’ve been listening to what our customers tell us they want from Skipton Direct, and are proud of the unique aspects of our service, including our willingness to regularly go out of our way to help our customers, whatever their enquiry.
“We are now looking for a range of skilled people who can really help us drive the future development of Skipton Direct, and would urge people to come forward and join our busy and vibrant team, based in the heart of Skipton.”