IRISH LIFE Permanent (ILP) is considering a voluntary redundancy scheme before Christmas involving the departure of about 100 staff from its 5,000-strong workforce.

The company has been cutting its costs over recent months.

ILP pointed to further reductions in a trading statement 10 days ago.

The company said it would seek to reduce underlying operating costs by more than €50 million this year.

The job losses are expected to arise within the company’s banking division, Permanent TSB.

The company declined to comment on these plans yesterday.

ILP said in the statement released earlier this month that “exceptional costs, including the costs of severance schemes” would arise at both divisional and group level over the course of the year.

“A range of cost reduction initiatives have been and are being taken across the group in response to the reduced levels of business and associated margin pressures,” the company said in the interim management statement.

In a further development, Irish Life Permanent has agreed to pay about 2,000 junior and middle-ranking staff across the group a 2.5 per cent pay increase this year, backdated to August, and a further 2.5 per cent increase from August 2010.

The increases will be paid to all staff earning €55,000 or less a year.

The increases were proposed by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in a compromise deal to replace normal pay increments of about 3 per cent last year and a further 3.5 per cent that had been proposed this year and 2.5 per cent next year under the national wage agreement.

A spokesman for the company welcomed the acceptance of the pay increase by staff, as recommended by the Labour Relations Commission. The staff were being paid an increase, he said, but it was less than had been expected and it was “reasonable” in the circumstances.