BT has cut almost 8,000 jobs in six months as the telecoms group accelerates a sweeping restructuring programme, underlining the scale of the workforce reductions being pursued even as it expands through the £400mn rescue of TalkTalk.
The group’s UK-focused workforce, excluding its international business, fell by 7,731 to approximately 90,000 in the six months to September 30. Compared with a year earlier, employee numbers are down by 11,712, or 11 per cent, as the company continues to strip out costs and simplify its operations.
The largest reductions have come at Openreach, BT’s infrastructure division, which is scaling back resources after reaching the peak of its nationwide fibre broadband construction programme.
The cuts form part of chief executive Allison Kirkby’s strategy to reduce annual costs by billions of pounds by 2030, as BT seeks to improve profitability while adapting to the changing demands of the telecommunications market.
The restructuring is already feeding through to the group’s financial performance. Pre-tax profits rose 12 per cent year on year to £1.1bn in the six months to September 30, supported by the company’s cost-saving measures.
BT said in May that it would increase its savings target by a further £700mn and extend its transformation programme by a year, to March 2030. The company now expects its overall workforce, including the international operation due to be separated, to fall to about 75,000 by 2030.
Once that business is excluded, BT expects to employ between 65,000 and 70,000 people, compared with approximately 130,000 workers, including contractors, in 2024.
Its annual cost-savings target has also been adjusted to about £3.5bn, from £3.7bn previously, reflecting the planned separation of its international operations into a joint venture with US mobile group Verizon.
The scale of BT’s restructuring contrasts with its recent intervention in TalkTalk, which it acquired for £400mn last month after the struggling telecoms provider failed to find buyers for its consumer business and wholesale arm, PlatformX Communications.
The transaction protected the jobs of approximately 900 TalkTalk employees in Salford, Greater Manchester, and secured telecommunications services for 2.5mn households as well as public sector customers including hospitals and schools.
BT is currently unable to discuss detailed plans for TalkTalk’s operations or employment because regulators require the business to be ring-fenced and operated separately while the transaction is assessed.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy intervened by issuing a Public Interest Intervention Notice, prompting a fast-track investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, which was given until October 19 to report.
Kirkby said the company’s strategy was delivering financial benefits while allowing it to invest in its core UK operations.
“Our UK-centric strategy and transformation is clearly delivering with £312 million of annualised savings achieved in the first half, as we continue to simplify and modernise.
“Our proposed international joint venture with Verizon is progressing at pace, and we’ve also stepped up for the country with the acquisition of TalkTalk, protecting millions of customers while creating value for all our stakeholders.”
BT’s transformation nevertheless presents a delicate balancing act: reducing its cost base while maintaining the infrastructure and customer services on which millions of households and businesses depend. Its latest results suggest the financial benefits are emerging, but the continuing workforce contraction highlights the human and operational scale of the overhaul.
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