Legal & General plans to cut about 1,000 jobs by mid-2027
Legal & General told staff it plans to cut about 1,000 roles, about a tenth of a workforce of about 10,000, by mid-2027. The programme starts with voluntary exits in the United Kingdom. Asset management is excluded. Compulsory cuts can follow if voluntary take-up falls short. António Simões described the move as the next stage of a leaner organisation.
Economics & Markets··Night
About 1,000 roles, from a workforce of about 10,000
The company told staff it plans to cut about 1,000 roles, about a tenth of a workforce of about 10,000, by mid-2027. Business Live reports the same plan: about 1,000 roles by mid-2027. The programme starts with voluntary exits in the United Kingdom. Asset management is excluded. Most employees are in the United Kingdom, and the voluntary round starts there. The exclusion is the fund-management arm, not the country. The excluded arm oversees about 1.2 trillion pounds. The 1,000 and the 10,000 are the staff note. The 1.2 trillion pounds is the book that stays outside the cut. Business Live's account of the note matches the headcount and the date, mid-2027.[1], [2]
Voluntary first, compulsory not ruled out
António Simões described the move as the next stage of a leaner organisation. Compulsory cuts can follow if voluntary take-up falls short. Business Live reports that description and that compulsory cuts can follow. The order is the substance of the note. The firm asks for voluntary exits first, in the United Kingdom, and it does not promise that the 1,000 roles are all found that way. The asset-management exclusion still stands beside that order. A leaner organisation, in Simões's words on both accounts, is the name he gave the stage. It is not a count of how many people have already left.[1], [2]
The shareholder pledge sits beside the cut
Simões had pledged to return more than 5 billion pounds to shareholders through dividends and buybacks between 2025 and 2027. That pledge is in the same company account as the staff cut, and it is a different number from the 1,000 roles. The workforce figure is about 10,000. The excluded fund-management arm oversees about 1.2 trillion pounds. The cut runs to mid-2027. The pledge window is 2025 to 2027. Business Live does not restate the 5 billion pounds. It restates the 1,000 roles, the leaner-organisation line and the possibility of compulsory cuts. The Guardian account holds both the jobs note and the earlier pledge, so a reader can see the staff reduction and the capital return as two figures in one story rather than one figure told twice.[1], [2]
