Accenture was recently appointed the provider of ScottishPower’s IT services. But in July the company revealed cost-cutting measures to offshore this work with the loss of 190 permanent employees and 14 contractors in Scotland and North Wales, including 18 Prospect IT specialists in East Kilbride.

However, after months of detailed negotiations between the unions, Accenture, ScottishPower and parent company Iberdrola, the company revealed that by securing new project work and extending their support contract with ScottishPower, it can provide a more stable flow of work and has withdrawn the threat of redundancy.

Prospect negotiator Malcolm Currie said: “This is excellent news. We are delighted that Accenture has seen sense and opted to retain the skills of this loyal workforce so that quality jobs, which generate £10m a year to the UK economy, remain in an area struggling to survive the recession.”

In a statement to its ScottishPower workforce, Accenture said: “We consider this to be a very positive outcome. It is a position that saves jobs for the foreseeable future and will result in a stable demand position for additional project work to at least the end of 2011 and hopefully beyond.”