# UK job cuts tracker: who is cutting jobs, and how many cuts employers blame on AI

Every announced cut of 100 or more UK jobs by a named employer since January 2025, 189 so far covering 111,306 roles. Each is graded on what the employer itself said about AI. Employers themselves tied 2,907 of those roles to AI or automation, 2.6 per cent.

Source page: https://britishresilienceindex.com/deep-dive/job-cuts
Machine readable data: https://britishresilienceindex.com/data/deep-dive/job-cuts.json

## How to read this

Each row is one announcement by a named employer of 100 or more UK job cuts, with the figure the employer gave and a link to the source. The coloured badge is the AI attribution scale: it grades what was said about AI, not whether AI really caused the cut. Only levels 3 and 4, where the employer itself named AI or automation, count towards the AI figure. Phases of a larger programme, forecasts and global cuts with no UK figure are listed but never added to the totals.

## 11 announcements where the employer itself named AI or automation

These are the cuts graded 3 or 4: the employer, in its own statement or through a named executive on the record, said AI or automation was the reason or one of the reasons. Together the confirmed ones come to 2,907 UK roles. Some are not counted in that figure, and the reason is given on each: the employer did not confirm the number, the AI plan was later dropped, or no UK figure was given.

## Announced UK job cuts by month

Roles in cuts announced each month, by the month the employer announced them (or the cut was first reported). Cuts are often carried out over months or years, so this shows when they were announced, not when people left.

**Bars**: aria label UK roles in announced job cuts by month, note UK roles in counted announcements. Highlighted months include a cut the employer tied to AI or automation.

## How the tracked roles split across the scale

Every counted cut sits on exactly one level. Only levels 3 and 4 count as AI linked.

**Bars**: aria label UK roles by AI attribution level, note UK roles in counted cuts by level.

## 189 announcements, largest first

Each row gives the UK roles, the AI level and a link to the source. Figures reported by unions or the press but not confirmed by the employer are marked; there are 59. Phases of a larger programme are shown under it and not added again.

## Where the cuts fell

UK roles in counted announcements, grouped by sector.

**Bars**: aria label UK roles in announced job cuts by sector, note UK roles in counted announcements.

## AI in the story, but not in the employer's reasons

22 announcements where AI comes up but the employer did not give it as a reason: the company talked about AI in the same breath (level 2), unions or the press made the link (level 1), or the employer denied it (2 cases). None of these count towards the AI figure.

## Cuts with no UK figure, and employers' forecasts

Cuts where the employer gave no UK number, most of them announced worldwide, are listed but never counted; this site does not estimate a UK share. Forecasts are an employer saying how many jobs it expects to go, without an announced cut.

## 3.9 redundancies per 1,000 employees, 114,000 people in three months

The tracker only sees cuts big enough to be announced. The Labour Force Survey counts everyone who reports being made redundant: 114,000 people in May to July 2026, a rate of 3.9 per 1,000 employees. The peak since the series began in 1995 was 354,000 in 2020 (October to December). Employers proposing 20 or more redundancies at one site must notify the Insolvency Service on form HR1; ONS publishes the counts, 291,653 potential redundancies in 2025. HR1 counts are proposals, not job losses.

**Lfs**: aria label LFS redundancies, UK, annual average, 1995 to 2025, note Thousands of people made redundant in the three months before interview, annual figure, seasonally adjusted. Source: ONS LFS, series BEAO and BEIR.

**Hr1**: aria label HR1 potential redundancies, Great Britain, by month, note Potential redundancies on HR1 forms by month received, Great Britain, not seasonally adjusted. Source: ONS, HR1 potential redundancies (official statistics in development).

**Ai survey**: text Of businesses using AI to improve business operations, 63% reported no change in worker headcount, while 1% reported increased headcount and 6% reported decreased headcount. These early indications show that the impact on employment remains limited at this stage., source ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026 (20 July 2026), url https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/articles/artificialintelligenceinukbusinesses/2023to2026

## Is AI different? Seventy years of job cuts and the machines blamed for them

Britain has argued about machines taking jobs before: automated car plants in the 1950s, mechanised sorting in the Post Office, containers on the docks, computer typesetting in Fleet Street. The same scale is applied to 24 of the largest or most argued over cuts since 1950, graded on what was said at the time. There is no official count of redundancies before 1977, so the national picture starts with unemployment.

**No series**: text Comparable information on redundancies prior to 1977 does not exist., source Hansard, written answer, 16 November 1982, url https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1982/nov/16/redundancies

**Unemployment**: aria label UK unemployment rate, 1950 to 2016, note Unemployment as a per cent of the UK workforce. Bank of England, A millennium of macroeconomic data, sheet A50 (its 1950 to 1971 values are the Bank's adjustment for the change from claimant to survey measures). This is unemployment, not redundancies., peak year 1,984, peak 11.8

**Confirmed**: aria label Confirmed redundancies, Great Britain, 1977 to 1990, note Redundancies confirmed by the Manpower Services Commission as due to occur, from notifications involving ten or more workers, Great Britain. 1977 to 1984: Hansard written answer, 23 October 1985. 1987 to 1990: Hansard written answer, 8 May 1991. 1985: Employment Gazette, December 1986, as reprinted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (June 1987), which also gives 245,000 for 1984. 1986 and 1991: printed in the Employment Gazette but not found in a source that could be checked.

- **Gap**: The government stopped this series in summer 1992. A minister told Parliament in 1993: “However, this series was discontinued because it proved to be an unreliable indicator of the actual number of redundancies taking place.” The ONS survey measure that replaced it counts people made redundant in the three months before interview, so the two are not joined.
**Unreliable**: text However, this series was discontinued because it proved to be an unreliable indicator of the actual number of redundancies taking place., source Hansard, written answer, 12 July 1993, url https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1993/jul/12/redundancies

**Cases**

**Id**: standard-motor-company-coventry-1956-05 · **Employer**: Standard Motor Company (Coventry) · **Announced**: 1956-05-08 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 3,500 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: automation · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The Standard Motor Co. in 1956 proposed a lay-off of 3,500 of 11,000 Standard workers,... · **Roles url**: https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/67d0ff97-e754-4933-bedd-2ae75fc0945e · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: I understand that whilst a certain number of additional automatic processes will be installed this is only a part of the re-equipment of the factory and the installation of these particular machines is not the cause of the dispute. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1956/may/08/standard-motor-company-coventry-strike · **Note**: null

**Id**: british-motor-corporation-1956-07 · **Employer**: British Motor Corporation · **Announced**: 1956-07-03 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 6,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The first was the announcement by the British Motor Corporation that it was sacking, out of hand, 6,000 workers. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1956/jul/03/government-expenditure-economies · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: british-railways-board-beeching-reshapin-1963-04 · **Employer**: British Railways Board (Beeching, Reshaping of British Railways) · **Announced**: 1963-04-29 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 70,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: the adoption of the railways' proposals would mean the disappearance over the next few 725 years of about 70,000 jobs. I emphasised, however, that most of the reduction would be effected by normal wastage and control of recruitment. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1963/apr/29/railways · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: The Minister said most of the 70,000 would go through normal wastage and recruitment control, with few discharges

**Id**: london-docks-national-dock-labour-scheme-1969-07 · **Employer**: London docks (National Dock Labour Scheme, London register) · **Announced**: 1969-07-23 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 3,774 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The registered dock labour force on 18th October, 1967, was 23,616. By 15th July this year it had fallen to 19,842. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/jul/23/london-docks · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: It was because of this uneven rate of introduction of new techniques and the disparities which have arisen, coupled with the fears arising from redundancy, that the Transport and General Workers Union, in January, 1968, placed a ban on the implementation of certain new techniques until a comprehensive package deal had been negotiated for the whole of the docks. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/jul/23/london-docks · **Note**: Fall in the London dock register between October 1967 and July 1969, worked out from two Government figures; a register, not one employer

**Id**: upper-clyde-shipbuilders-1971-06 · **Employer**: Upper Clyde Shipbuilders · **Announced**: 1971-06-14 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 7,500 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: Will he tell the House exactly what this will mean for the 7,500 people employed in U.C.S. and for the 20,000 others who are employed in the supplying industries? · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/jun/14/upper-clyde-shipbuilders · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: Figure given by an MP; workers put at risk by the liquidation, not an announced redundancy number

**Id**: port-of-london-authority-royal-group-of--1978-07 · **Employer**: Port of London Authority (Royal group of docks) · **Announced**: 1978-07-24 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 2,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: On the PLA's figures, if the Royals are closed, up to 2,000 people could be declared redundant, of whom about a third are registered dockers. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1978/jul/24/dock-labour-scheme · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: In recent years, with union co-operation, many thousands of workers have left the docks because of such facets of modernisation as roll on/roll off, containerisation, and modern handling equipment. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1978/jul/24/dock-labour-scheme · **Note**: An MP's statement of the port authority's figures, conditional on the closure; the technology remark is about earlier dock job losses

**Id**: times-newspapers-ltd-the-times-the-sunda-1978-11 · **Employer**: Times Newspapers Ltd (The Times, The Sunday Times) · **Announced**: 1978-11-30 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 4,270 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: In the event, on 18th September Times Newspapers Limited formally notified me of potential redundancies affecting all its 4,270 employees. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1978/nov/30/-the-timesnewspaper · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: Although the management is undoubtedly seeking substantial reductions in manning levels in order to achieve greater efficiency and to accompany the introduction of new technology, its intention is that that should be achieved by voluntary severance on special terms that it has proposed. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1978/nov/30/-the-timesnewspaper · **Note**: Formal notice covering 4,270 staff during the shutdown, not an announced cut; the technology wording is the Employment Secretary's account of management's aims

**Id**: british-steel-corporation-corby-1979-11 · **Employer**: British Steel Corporation (Corby) · **Announced**: 1979-11-07 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 6,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: What will be the consequences if the closure, bringing with it nearly 6,000 redundancies, goes ahead without discussion, peremptorily on the say-so of the British Steel Corporation, forced to do that by the suburban-bank-manager attitude of the Secretary of State? · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1979/nov/07/steel-industry · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: Figure given by an MP; the Secretary of State put the resulting male unemployment at about 6,000

**Id**: british-steel-corporation-consett-1980-01 · **Employer**: British Steel Corporation (Consett) · **Announced**: 1980-01-21 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 3,700 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: My hon. Friend the Member for Consett (Mr. Watkins) tells me that there are about 3,700 steel redundancies in the offing in his area. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1980/jan/21/northern-region · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: Figure given by MPs in debate

**Id**: british-steel-corporation-national-plan-1980-03 · **Employer**: British Steel Corporation (national plan) · **Announced**: 1980-03-17 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 52,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: regarding the 52,000 job losses by the British Steel Corporation and consequential job losses in the British coal industry · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1980/mar/17/british-steel-corporation · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: Figure given by an MP in a written question; the Minister's answer gave no number

**Id**: british-leyland-edwardes-plan-1980-05 · **Employer**: British Leyland (Edwardes plan) · **Announced**: 1980-05-16 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 25,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The chairman then went on to detail his streamlining proposals-the closure, completely or partially, of several plants, concentration of vehicle assembly on key sites and a reduction in United Kingdom manning levels as a result of these proposals by not less than 25,000 over two years. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1980/may/16/british-leyland-1980-corporate-plan · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: A floor of not less than 25,000 over two years, as an MP described the chairman's plan

**Id**: talbot-psa-peugeot-citroen-linwood-1981-02 · **Employer**: Talbot (PSA Peugeot-Citroen), Linwood · **Announced**: 1981-02-11 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 4,800 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: Apart from the 4,800 jobs which will be lost at Linwood itself, there will be consequences for suppliers. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1981/feb/11/talbot-linwood · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: national-coal-board-1984-06 · **Employer**: National Coal Board · **Announced**: 1984-06-07 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 20,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: It was then that the NCB admitted that the plan would mean the loss of 20,000 jobs this year and a cut in output to 97.4 million tonnes. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1984/jun/07/coal-industry-dispute · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: Figure given by MPs from both sides, as the Board's proposal of 20 pits

**Id**: news-international-times-sunday-times-su-1986-03 · **Employer**: News International (Times, Sunday Times, Sun, News of the World) - Wapping · **Announced**: 1986-03-03 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 5,500 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: Rupert Murdoch's callous and malevolent sacking of his entire work force of 5,500 without a penny of compensation or redundancy pay is an act of savagery unparalleled in British industrial relations. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/mar/03/printing-dispute-wapping · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: Standing out against new technology does not preserve jobs, it destroys them. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/mar/03/printing-dispute-wapping · **Note**: Dismissals during a dispute, not a redundancy programme; figure given by MPs; the technology link is the Government minister's

**Id**: national-dock-labour-scheme-registered-d-1989-04 · **Employer**: National Dock Labour Scheme (registered dock workers) · **Announced**: 1989-04-06 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 17,600 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 1 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: During the same period, the number of registered dock workers has dropped by nearly two-thirds from 27,000 to 9,400 today. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1989/apr/06/dock-labour-scheme · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: Since then, however, there have been radical changes in cargo-handling technology, and dock work today, by its very nature, requires a permanent and skilled workforce. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1989/apr/06/dock-labour-scheme · **Note**: Fall in registered dock workers over ten years, worked out from two Government figures; not one announcement

**Id**: british-coal-31-pits-1992-10 · **Employer**: British Coal (31 pits) · **Announced**: 1992-10-19 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 30,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: Last week I agreed that British Coal should announce that it would cease production at 31 pits over the course of the next five months with the loss of up to 30,000 jobs. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1992/oct/19/coal-industry · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: lloyds-tsb-lloyds-bank-and-tsb-merger-1997-03 · **Employer**: Lloyds TSB (Lloyds Bank and TSB merger) · **Announced**: 1997-03-05 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 10,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 2 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: BIFU has identified 650 bank branches which are at risk due to their close proximity, and possibly up to 10,000 jobs which could be lost as a result of the merger. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1997/mar/05/lloyds-tsb-bill-hl · **Roles source type**: union · **Ai quote**: The UK retail financial services environment has changed out of all recognition over the past 10 years. Two words encapsulate that change: competition and technology. · **Ai url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1997/mar/05/lloyds-tsb-bill-hl · **Note**: A union estimate of up to 10,000 quoted in the Lords; the banks said reductions would come through wastage, redeployment and voluntary means

**Id**: vauxhall-motors-general-motors-luton-2000-12 · **Employer**: Vauxhall Motors (General Motors), Luton · **Announced**: 2000-12-13 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 2,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The decision in relation to Luton is a bitter blow, with the prospect of 2,000 jobs being lost by this time next year. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2000/dec/13/vauxhall-luton · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: consignia-royal-mail-group-restructuring-2002-03 · **Employer**: Consignia / Royal Mail Group (restructuring phase 1) · **Announced**: 2002-03-25 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 13,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The company expects that, together, these changes will mean the loss of 13,000 jobs over the next three years with a further 2,000 jobs going through natural wastage. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2002/mar/25/consignia-restructuring · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: consignia-royal-mail-group-restructuring-2002-06 · **Employer**: Consignia / Royal Mail Group (restructuring phase 2) · **Announced**: 2002-06-13 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 17,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: He announced that the Royal Mail would save £350 million a year by moving to a single delivery at a consistent time, six days a week, and that those plans would result in a further 17,000 redundancies over the next three years. · **Roles url**: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2002/jun/13/consignia · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: mg-rover-group-longbridge-2005-04 · **Employer**: MG Rover Group (Longbridge) · **Announced**: 2005-04-08 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 6,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The subsequent closure of MG Rover's plant at Longbridge in the West Midlands resulted in the loss of almost 6,000 MG Rover jobs, with potentially serious adverse consequences for the local economy. · **Roles url**: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/the-closure-of-mg-rover/ · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: woolworths-group-uk-2008-12 · **Employer**: Woolworths Group (UK) · **Announced**: 2008-12-22 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 27,000 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 0 · **Driver**: none · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: Woolworths, a UK retailer, has announced the closure of all of its 807 stores in the UK with the loss of 27000 jobs. · **Roles url**: https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/67738 · **Roles source type**: regulator-or-parliament · **Ai quote**: null · **Ai url**: null · **Note**: null

**Id**: bt-group-2023-05 · **Employer**: BT Group · **Announced**: 2023-05-18 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: null · **Global roles**: 55,000 · **Level**: 3 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: BT plans to reduce its workforce by up to 55,000 by 2030 and become what CEO Philip Jansen predictably describes as "a leaner business with a brighter future." · **Roles url**: https://www.lightreading.com/aiautomation/eurobites-bt-plans-to-cut-55000-jobs-by-2030-with-ai-assist/d/d-id/784940 · **Roles source type**: press · **Ai quote**: By continuing to build and connect like fury, digitise the way we work and simplify our structure, by the end of the 2020s BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base. · **Ai url**: https://newsroom.bt.com/results-for-the-full-year-to-31-march-2023/ · **Note**: The 40,000 to 55,000 range is BT's whole labour resource, including contractors and staff outside the UK; BT gave no UK only figure

**Id**: tata-steel-uk-port-talbot-2024-01 · **Employer**: Tata Steel UK (Port Talbot) · **Announced**: 2024-01-19 · **Sector**:  · **Uk roles**: 2,800 · **Global roles**: null · **Level**: 2 · **Driver**: technology · **Kind**: cut · **Vacant posts**: false · **Ai withdrawn**: false · **Counted**: false · **Ai linked**: false · **Roles quote**: The transition at Tata Steel's UK operations is subject to consultation but could be expected to result in up to 2,800 potential job losses across the business out of which around 2,500 roles could be impacted during the next 18 months. · **Roles url**: https://www.tatasteel.com/media/newsroom/press-releases/india/2024/tata-steel-announces-next-steps-towards-its-ambitious-transformation-from-blast-furnaces-to-green-steelmaking-in-the-uk-and-initiates-statutory-consultation/ · **Roles source type**: employer · **Ai quote**: Under the transformation plan, Tata Steel will embark on a £1.25 billion investment in Electric Arc Furnace technology in Port Talbot and asset upgrades to secure long-term, high-quality production at the UK's largest steelmaker. · **Ai url**: https://www.tatasteel.com/media/newsroom/press-releases/india/2024/tata-steel-announces-next-steps-towards-its-ambitious-transformation-from-blast-furnaces-to-green-steelmaking-in-the-uk-and-initiates-statutory-consultation/ · **Note**: null


**Excluded**

| employer | announced | reason |
|---|---|---|
| General Post Office (Postmaster General) | 1967-03-15 | The 6,000 figure comes from a 16 November 1977 Lords debate (Lord Orr-Ewing) and is a hypothetical ('even if mechanical sorting was accepted tomorrow... it would only save 6,000 jobs out of a total of 175,000'), not a 1967 cut. The saved 15 March 1967 Commons page states mechanisation investment and 'substantial economies in manpower' but gives no job number, so no verifiable 1967 figure exists in the saved sources. |

- **Tech count**: 9

## What the tracker does not settle

**Is AI causing the job cuts?**

Not on employers' own account, so far. Of 111,306 UK roles in announced cuts since January 2025, employers tied 2,907 to AI or automation: 800 to AI and 2,107 to automation. Far more announcements mention AI only in passing, or are linked to it by unions and commentators, and several employers have denied it. ONS's business survey finds most firms using AI report no change in headcount.

**Could employers be playing AI down?**

Possibly. Saying AI replaced staff can be unpopular, and cost, restructuring or 'changing customer behaviour' can describe the same change. That is why the scale grades what was said, not what may be true, and why the contested middle is shown in full.

**Could employers be playing AI up?**

Also possible. Calling a cut AI driven can sound like modernisation rather than retrenchment. A level 4 grade records the employer's claim; it does not prove the technology did the work.

**Why only 100 or more roles?**

It matches the threshold for the 45 day collective consultation, so the announcement is usually public. Smaller cuts are counted in the national figures but are too many and too rarely announced to track by name.

**Why does HSBC not count as an AI cut?**

Reports in October 2026 said HSBC was cutting UK wealth roles as part of a wider AI push. HSBC confirmed a consultation but gave no number and did not attribute it to AI, so it sits at level 1 with the UK figure not stated.

**Is AI different from earlier waves of automation?**

In one way the pattern looks familiar. Of the 24 historic cuts graded here, 9 had technology in the argument at the time, and in 6 of them the link was made by ministers, MPs or unions rather than the employer, as with AI and most cuts today. The cuts that changed the labour market most, in coal, steel, cars and shipbuilding, were not blamed on machines at all.

**Why does the national record start in 1977?**

Because nothing earlier exists. The Department of Employment told Parliament in 1982 that comparable information on redundancies before 1977 does not exist. Its confirmed redundancy series ran from 1977 until summer 1992, when it was dropped as an unreliable indicator; 1986 and 1991 have not yet been found in a source that can be checked. The ONS survey measure shown above starts in 1995.


## Sources

- ONS, LFS redundancies level (BEAO) and rate (BEIR), 15 September 2026 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/redundancies/timeseries/beao/lms) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- ONS, Employment in the UK: September 2026 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/september2026) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- ONS, Advanced notification of potential redundancies (HR1), 8 October 2026 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/datasets/advancednotificationofpotentialredundancies) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- ONS, Developing an indicator of potential redundancies using Insolvency Service data (https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/developinganindicatorofpotentialredundanciesusinginsolvencyservicedata) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- Insolvency Service, Management information on the Advanced Notification of Redundancy Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/publication-of-data-on-advanced-notification-of-redundancy-scheme/management-information-on-advanced-notification-of-redundancy-scheme) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- ONS, Artificial intelligence in UK businesses: 2023 to 2026 (20 July 2026) (https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/articles/artificialintelligenceinukbusinesses/2023to2026) · Open Government Licence v3.0
- Employer statements, regulatory filings, council and board papers, union releases and press reports for each of the 233 entries, linked on each row (https://britishresilienceindex.com/deep-dive/job-cuts#league) · Quoted for reporting
- Hansard, written answer on redundancies, 16 November 1982 (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1982/nov/16/redundancies) · Open Parliament Licence
- Hansard, written answers on confirmed redundancies, 23 October 1985, 8 May 1991 and 12 July 1993 (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1985/oct/23/redundancies) · Open Parliament Licence
- L. Root, Britain's redundancy payments for displaced workers, BLS Monthly Labor Review, June 1987 (reprints Employment Gazette, December 1986) (https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1987/06/art3full.pdf) · US government work
- Bank of England, A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK, version 3.1 (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/research-datasets) · Bank of England, quoted

## Caveats and data notes

- Before 1977 there is no official count of redundancies. The history section uses the Bank of England's unemployment series for context and grades named cases from Hansard and official records; several historic job figures are those given by MPs in Parliament and are marked as such.
- The scale grades what the employer and others said, not whether AI actually caused the cut. An employer may play AI down or up.
- The tracker includes cuts of 100 or more UK roles that were publicly announced or reported. Many smaller cuts, and some large ones never made public, are missing; the ONS figures cover all redundancies.
- Role counts are the employer's figure where it gave one. Where only a union or the press gave a number, the row is marked and still counted in the total, but never in the AI figure.
- Announced cuts are often smaller in the end: through voluntary exits, redeployment, vacancies left unfilled or plans withdrawn. The tracker records the announcement and updates status when known.
- Global cuts with no UK figure are listed but not counted. No UK share is estimated.
- Derby City Council's 100 posts were vacant when deleted; no one was made redundant. They are counted because the jobs no longer exist.
- The Metropolitan Police tied about 500 of 1,150 planned reductions to an analytics contract that was then blocked; those 500 are not in the AI figure.
- ONS HR1 figures exclude forms that mention contract changes, pensions or TUPE transfers rather than dismissals, which is why they run below the Insolvency Service's own management information.
- Quotes are verbatim from the saved source page; dashes are shown as hyphens.

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British Resilience Index, a non-partisan UK civic data project. Every figure is
reconciled to its primary official publisher before it is shown. Free to cite with
attribution: https://britishresilienceindex.com