Horsham-based insurance giant Royal & SunAlliance has announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs in the UK by June 2008.

The company, which employs 10,000 people across 24 sites in the UK, said the cuts would deliver savings of £70 million in the next two years.

R&SA has three offices in Horsham, employing almost 1,000 people.

It is one of the town's biggest employers, along with Heveco Mushrooms and the RSPCA.

UK communications manager Annette Spencer said the company was unable to say at this stage how many jobs, if any, would be lost in Horsham.

She said: "We are reducing our headcount to improve efficiencies but it is too early to say where the jobs will be going at the moment, it is being rolled out over two years.

The company said more than half the jobs would go through "natural turnover and redeployment in an effort to minimise redundancies.

A spokesman for union Amicus said: "Amicus is disappointed at the numbers involved in this redundancy programme and we will be working closely with the company to try to reduce the number of redundancies.

"We will also be pushing the company to achieve the cuts through natural wastage and voluntary redundancy without resorting to making compulsory redundancies."

R&SA, which operates More Than, is the second largest commercial insurer in the UK and the third largest personal motor and household insurer.

It set out a major restructuring of the group in 2003 with a focus on the UK, Scandinavia and an international arm.

The company yesterday outlined the next stage of its growth, including plans to develop the UK affinity business by more than 50 per cent.

R&SA chief executive Andy Haste said: "The decision to reduce headcount is always a difficult one but necessary to ensure we remain as competitive as possible and to continue to deliver on our objective of sustainable profitable performance.

"Over the last three years we have built an excellent platform for growth with exciting opportunities.

"We have developed a strong track record of delivery and we will be pursuing these new opportunities with the same drive, energy and ambition as we have applied to the restructuring of the business.

"We are confident we will deliver on our plans and will strengthen our position as one of the best general insurers."

R&SA provides general insurance products to more than 20 million customers in 130 countries.

It has major sites in Liverpool, where it employs 1,500 staff, and Halifax, where it has just over 900. A further 1,000 work from home.