11:30 am, September 7, 2026
JLR has confirmed plans to axe 4,000 jobs across its global workforce over the next two years as part of efforts to slash costs by £1.7bn.
The cuts are expected to largely impact office roles, with the majority of cuts affecting its UK operations, where around 34,000 staff in total are based.
Just under 10,000 are employed by the company overseas.
Chief executive PB Balaji said the group was ‘committed to supporting everyone with care, fairness and respect’ through the process.
It comes as JLR continues its recovery from a major cyber attack that forced it to halt production last year, with sales also under pressure amid intense competition from cheaper Chinese electric vehicles, while it also tackles soaring costs and the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Yesterday, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Laura Kuenssberg’s show on the BBC that a government bailout is not on the table.
‘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,’ he said.
‘If this is about making sure over time that the workforce is right to make the business as competitive as possible, that’s the conversation we need to have.
‘Of course you want to mitigate any job losses.’
Asked if there could be financial support to protect those jobs, he added: ‘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.’
JLR continues its recovery from a major cyberattack that forced it to halt production last year.
The company employs about 30,000 people across the UK and makes most of its cars in factories in the country, including at Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside.
A JLR spokesperson said: ‘Over the past three years, we have strengthened our House of Brands and transformed our product portfolio for the next generation.
‘As we deliver the next phase of our strategy, we need to adapt to evolving global market conditions while targeting approximately £1.7bn of savings over the next two years and reduce break-evens to 300,000 vehicles. To achieve this, we must further simplify our organisation, improve efficiency and build greater resilience.’
The company confirmed it had informed colleagues and trade union partners of the voluntary redundancy programme, adding it would ‘share further information with our colleagues first’.
A government spokesperson said: ‘We understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time for affected workers, their families and wider communities.
‘We have taken significant action to back the UK automotive industry by lowering electricity bills for manufacturers, providing £4 billion of capital and R&D funding to manufacture zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and launching a £2bn electric car grant to encourage people to buy EVs.’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments.
‘Years of under-investment, unsustainable ZEV mandates and high industrial energy costs are crippling the industry. There must be further action.
‘There have been intensive government discussions over the weekend to look at how to mitigate these job losses at JLR.
‘The business secretary, Jonny Reynolds and myself are meeting the CEO of JLR next week. Unite was pivotal in securing the £1.5bn government facility for JLR after the cyber attack.
‘Once again, we will leave no stone unturned to support these workers. It cannot be acceptable that workers again are made to pay the price.’
JLR revealed last month that revenues fell by 9.6% year-on-year to £6bn for the three months to June 30, driven by a 9.2% decline in car volumes.
It came after production was heavily disrupted by a raft of factors, including a fire at a supplier’s factory.
JLR briefly paused production for its Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models at its Solihull plant in March after a major fire at the factory of a component manufacturer in Norway.
JLR reported a pre-tax profit, before exceptional items, of £109m for the quarter, compared with a £351m profit a year earlier.
Profit margins were knocked by a one-off provision linked to US fuel economy rules, which partially offset reduced US-UK tariffs.
Earlier this year, JLR said it planned to cut around £1.7bn in costs over the coming years to help support its recovery.
The firm has been recovering from the cyberattack last year, which had a major impact on the business, its employees and the wider UK economy.
The carmaker was forced to stop production at its UK factories for five weeks from September 1 last year, which weighed on sales in late 2025 and led to heavy financial losses.
Story originally published at 06:50 on Sept 7; updated with the job cuts confirmation at 11:30