Members of the Unite trade union working at Capita IT Services (CIS) have voted in favour of strike action over the company's plan to move UK jobs to India.

The proposed strike action concerns CIS' plan, announced in March, to cut around 400 jobs in the UK and move some roles to India. Unite says its members that work for CIS voted "overwhelmingly" in support of strike action.

“Capita IT staff have voted for industrial action out of anger at Capita’s plans to send skilled work abroad," said David Fleming, Unite national office in a statement. "Once the skilled jobs are offshored from local communities they never return, which leaves a damaging impact on local economies."

CIS says, however, that only 84 of its employees – 2% of its entire workforce – are members of the union.

"In order to maintain its strong position in the marketplace, optimise operational efficiency and continue to enhance service delivery to its clients, Capita’s IT services business has concluded that a revised delivery model is necessary," the company said.

"Since 30 March 2012, we have been undertaking a consultation process involving employees about a proposal to move limited elements of our work activity to our existing IT services operation in India. This consultation process is not yet complete and we are disappointed that 84 employees who are members of Unite have voted in favour of industrial action.
 
"We have robust processes in place to ensure that this proposed industrial action will not impact our service delivery to clients."