Personal injury firm Minster Law will close its signature York office next year to centralise operations in the latest fall-out from the personal injury reforms. Several jobs are risk. 

Staff will relocate over the next 18 months to an existing office in Wakefield, which will be refurbished to house all 620 employees, the firm said. 

Last week the firm announced it would fully automate its service to adapt to reforms of the personal injury market likely to come into force in October 2018. The York office will be vacated within a month of the reforms being implemented.

Managing director Michael Warren said the Wakefield move would involve a small number of roles being placed 'at risk', but it was necessary to transform the business.

‘Centralising our legal services and support functions will create a consistent experience for customers and ensure a closer and more productive relationship between our teams, and I fully expect that Minster Law will deliver a step change in performance as a result,’ he said.

‘The majority of all other York-based employees who are happy to move to Wakefield will retain their positions. Colleagues who choose not to move have 18 months to determine what’s best for them with a range of support being offered to help them do so.’

Moving to one Yorkshire site will reduce overheads and free up extra resources for further investment in the business, he said. 

Newly appointed chief operating officer Shirley Woolham said the business has evolved in the last three years to make a single Yorkshire office possible.

She added: ‘We’ve embraced change in order to strengthen our business despite uncertainties in the personal injury sector. Improvements in open plan office spaces, streamlined management structures and agile working have all contributed to making a single Yorkshire site a reality.’

Minster was founded in 2003 and has 80 legal professionals among its 620 employees. As well as personal injury, it also offers advice on wills, probate and employment law. An existing office in London is not affected by today’s announcement.