AN insurance company is to create 120 jobs in the North-East after securing new contracts.

Churchill is recruiting more workers for its call centre in Stockton, Teesside, which already employs 600 people.

In the past two years, the company has increased its staff to 7,000 worldwide, including doubling its payroll at Stockton.

The deal goes against the trend of what is being experienced by other insurance companies, where jobs have been cut.

Churchill, which is 13 years old says it prides itself on being a good employer, attracting good employees, helping them enjoy their work and giving the best service to its customers.

It is owned by Credit Suisse and recently bought the books of Prudential and Pearl over the past two years as well as strengthening its own sales.

The company said yesterday it would be employing about 90 people who would be based in the office and 30 home workers. There will also be 12 IT help desk staff.

Head of operations customer service Charles Breslin said the company had twice been voted one of the best 25 companies in the country to work for.

He added that the company would be advertising the posts, although some had already been filled.

Mr Breslin said the company's UK call centres were performing well and there were no plans to move sales and customer services operations to Asia.

Churchill made £56m profit last year.

The news comes after The Northern Echo reported earlier this week that a new business park was likely to boost the region's job prospects.

Newcastle developer Hillford Group said it was well advanced with constructing the first of three purpose-built call centre facilities at Peterlee's Whitehouse Point Business Park, in the East Durham Enterprise Zone.

The centres will provide almost 1,900 jobs for Peterlee once fully operational.

The Hillford Group's £20m investment was triggered by the rise of the call centre industry in the region.

Facilities along the A19 corridor have created thousands of jobs and made the zone a centre of opportunity and excellence for the industry.

Hillford contracted Mansell to build the development and it is completing the first unit, Point One, which will accommodate 900 workers when it is fully occupied.

The second phase, Point Two and Point Three, will have space for 1,000 more people.