In October, Lloyds TSB announced it was closing its call centre in the city and on Wednesday it revealed the November closure date.

Unions have been campaigning against moving jobs to India and have collected thousands of signatures.

The company has been working to help those affected find new jobs.

When the closure was announced in October, 960 people worked at the Newcastle call centre. The bank says there are about 400 people there at the moment.

Retraining grants

The Lloyds TSB Group Union says staff in India, where the jobs are being transferred to, are paid approximately 10% of UK salaries.

The union believes Lloyds TSB could eventually transfer thousands more jobs to India.

A Lloyds TSB spokeswoman said it was committed to offering anyone who is still at the Newcastle centre when it closes, and who wants to stay with the company, another job.

She said it was also offering �2,000 retraining grants and had already redeployed people within the company.