Aviva has confirmed the first set of job cuts at its Norwich HQ with 13 staff set to leave the business by the end of the month.

The EDP Top 100 business last month unveiled plans to axe 2,000 staff across its global operation while it is also looking to cut redundancy payments as part of an ongoing cost-cutting drive to save £400m and restore the fortunes of the group, which recently unveiled £3bn losses.

With the firm employing 6,000 staff in the city – mostly in its general insurance division – that could see up to 360 jobs lost as it looks to make 6pc reductions across the board potentailly sucking millions of pounds of spending power out of the local economy.

However, the first set of cuts have been unveiled in its life insurance division including 13 adviser jobs, based at its call centre in the Broadland Business Park.

The staff are part of the Life Insurance business, which is headquartered in York and is looking to cut 120 posts across the country including 20 advisers based in Coventry Building Society branches.

Last week it emerged that Aviva had modified proposals to cut redundancy pay following discussions with union officials and staff representatives pushing back the date of the proposed cuts until December.

However, the company said it was still unable to provide an overall figure for the job cuts as changes were being made on a group by group basis.

An Aviva spokesman said: 'We have previously outlined plans to reduce our expenditure to improve our position as a business. This has meant we have been reviewing how we can meet our customers' needs in the most cost-effective way.

'As a result we can confirm that, as of May 31, Aviva will no longer offer fully advised sales to new customers across all Life products.

'We remain fully committed to supporting all our customers and we will continue to offer products and services through our non-advised direct team and via our distributors, including our broad network of independent financial advisers.'