Jaguar Land Rover’s voluntary redundancy programme is set to cut up to 4,000 jobs as Britain’s largest car manufacturer targets £1.7 billion of savings over the next two years. The company began informing workers on Monday morning, with a formal announcement expected to follow.
JLR confirmed over the weekend that it is opening the programme to salaried and management staff. According to Reuters, the scheme will primarily affect the company’s 26,000 salaried and management employees, not its production workforce. Roles affected are understood to be non-production, with the majority of cuts falling on UK operations, where around 34,000 staff are based. Just under 10,000 employees are based overseas. Across the business as a whole, Yahoo Finance reports that JLR employs around 43,000 people worldwide.
What JLR’s voluntary redundancy programme means for workers
A JLR spokesperson said the company has spent the past three years strengthening its brand portfolio and transforming its product range. ‘As we deliver the next phase of our strategy, we need to adapt to evolving global market conditions while targeting approximately £1.7 billion of savings over the next two years and reduce break-evens to 300,000 vehicles,’ the spokesperson said. ‘To achieve this, we must further simplify our organisation, improve efficiency and build greater resilience.’
The company added it had informed colleagues and trade union partners of the plans, and said it would share further information with staff before making any wider public statement.
Alongside the cost-cutting, Reuters reports that JLR plans to launch five new products over the next 12 months, and will continue investing between £15 billion and £18 billion over the next five years across electrification, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and customer experience improvements. That investment commitment gives some context to the dual pressure the company is navigating: reducing its cost base while funding a significant transformation of what it makes and how it makes it.
Government response and the global headwinds facing car makers
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has ruled out a government bailout for JLR. He spoke to JLR chief executive PB Balaji and confirmed he would meet the firm’s leadership team early this week, with the aim of working to ‘mitigate any job losses’. Appearing on the BBC on Sunday, Reynolds said: ‘A company the size of JLR, which is a huge British success story, at various times in its business cycle, the number of, directly, people it employs will change.’
On the question of financial support, he drew a clear line: ‘Not if it’s to bail people out. If it’s about long-term investment in the future, we do invest alongside industry on that.’
Treasury Chief Secretary Emma Reynolds, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said her thoughts were with workers, adding that car companies worldwide were facing ‘very competitive global headwinds’. European manufacturers in particular have struggled to compete with cheaper electric vehicles produced by Chinese carmakers. A Government spokesperson said ministers have already taken steps to support the automotive sector, citing lower electricity bills for manufacturers, £4 billion of capital and research and development funding for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) production, and a £2 billion electric car grant scheme to encourage buyers to switch to EVs (electric vehicles).
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham was blunt about what she believes has led to this point. ‘Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments,’ she said. ‘Years of under-investment, unsustainable ZEV mandates and high industrial energy costs are crippling the industry. There must be further action.’ Graham confirmed she would be joining Reynolds at a meeting with JLR’s leadership this week, adding: ‘Unite was pivotal in securing the £1.5 billion government facility for JLR after the cyber attack. Once again, we will leave no stone unturned to support these workers.’
That cyber attack remains a significant part of JLR’s recent history. The company was forced to halt production at its UK factories for five weeks after being targeted, with plants at Solihull in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside among those affected. The disruption weighed heavily on sales and led to substantial financial losses.
The financial pressure has been mounting since. JLR reported revenues of £6 billion for the three months to 30 June, a fall of 9.6% year-on-year, driven by a 9.2% decline in car volumes. A fire at a supplier’s factory added to the difficulties during that period. Earlier this year, JLR outlined plans to cut approximately £1.7 billion in costs over the coming years as part of its broader turnaround. The announcement of up to 4,000 job losses follows a separate disclosure at the end of July of plans to cut up to 300 jobs under the same overhaul.
Jaguar Land Rover said it will share further details with colleagues before making a wider public statement, meaning a fuller picture of who is affected and on what terms is expected to emerge in the coming days.
