UK Minister to Meet Jaguar Land Rover CEO as Thousands of Job Cuts Expected

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has not confirmed the scale of the upcoming job cuts, but stated that the restructuring aims to simplify the business, improve efficiency, and build greater resilience.

“Today, we informed our colleagues and trade union partners that JLR is opening a voluntary redundancy programme offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business,” a spokesperson said. The company will share further information with employees first, though it did not rule out the prospect of some compulsory redundancies as part of the plans.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said the union had been warning about a “perfect storm” hanging over the automotive industry for some time. “Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments,” she said, adding that there had been intensive discussions over the weekend regarding mitigating job losses.

Reynolds was questioned about the impact on the car industry of the UK’s electric vehicle sales target, which requires manufacturers to ensure a percentage of the cars they sell each year are zero emissions, with the target rising annually to reach 80% by 2030. He stated that one of his first actions as business secretary was to give the industry more flexibility to work towards this goal, noting that a further consultation is open. “It’s not where it needs to be and that’s why we’re willing to change the regulation to work with where consumer demand is and the industry,” he added.

Reynolds also mentioned speaking with West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker about supporting the business and its staff.

JLR had previously indicated in July that fewer than 300 people would leave the firm under cost-saving plans announced at the time. The company employs approximately 30,000 people in its UK operations, with around 10,000 people employed at plants overseas.

The cyber attack in September 2025 led to the shutdown of all manufacturing at JLR for several weeks, meaning not a single vehicle rolled off its production lines. This led to a 27% drop in overall production at the company, one of the West Midlands’ biggest employers. The overall cost of the cyber attack and the subsequent loss of manufacturing was estimated to be £1.9bn.

In June, the firm announced it planned to cut about £1.7bn in costs over the coming years to help towards its recovery from the attack. JLR had indicated at the time that it would make the savings through cuts in areas such as materials, warranty, and fixed costs.

Additional reporting by Simon Jack

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