Wragge & Co is to cut up to 30 full-time equivalent roles in a back office restructuring that will see the firm outsource support functions to business process outsourcing (BPO) company Intelligent Office.

The news was announced to staff by managing partner Ian Metcalfe yesterday (7 May) and comes after a comprehensive review of the firm's back office, which was launched at the start of the year.

Around 180 PAs, concierge and document production staff in London and Birmingham have been placed at risk, with the firm currently in the process of identifying those it wishes to retain, with up to 30 full-time equivalent roles expected to be cut.

Following the consultation, the remaining PAs will continue as employees of Wragges; however, those retaining roles within the concierge and document production teams will be placed in a TUPE consultation before being transferred to Intelligent Office.

In addition, the firm has also placed 28 employees from the front-office, document management resourcing and archiving teams in a TUPE consultation. It is expected that the three teams will also transfer to Intelligent Office.

According to the firm, the new structure will see the PA role become more focused on clients, business development and project managing the demands from partners and fee earners.

Meanwhile, there will be Intelligent Office-managed document production centres and concierge hubs in each of the four legal groups of real estate, human resources, dispute resolutions and corporate, commercial, finance and projects.

Wragges expects to have concluded the redundancies and have the new structure in place by the end of October.

Managing partner Ian Metcalfe said: "Clients expect their lawyers to deliver excellent advice in the most efficient way. Our people want roles in which they can develop and which offer career opportunities. Having taken a good look at our current model we have identified a number of ways in which we can improve both efficiency and opportunity.

"Neither I nor the board have made these decisions lightly but we feel they are in the best long-term interests of our business. We have to change how we operate if we are to remain competitive without compromising quality. This is going to be a difficult time for the people involved but we will run fair and open consultation processes, respond to questions and minimise uncertainty."

The news comes after Bevan Brittan transferred 72 support roles to Intelligent Office in a similar move in late 2011. However, three months later, around 15 staff were made redundant by the BPO company.