Business Secretary to meet Jaguar Land Rover bosses amid 4,000 job cuts
It comes as the group continues its recovery from a major cyberattack which forced it to halt production last year
The Business Secretary is due to meet Jaguar Land Rover bosses amid reports that the UK’s largest car manufacturer is to cut 4,000 jobs.
Listen to this article
The firm is expected to formally announce a major redundancy programme on Monday, with job losses to be spread over two years.
JLR said that it informed employees on Friday that it is opening a voluntary redundancy programme offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business.
It comes as the group continues its recovery from a major cyberattack which 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.
Read more: 'This is our warning': 'Intimidating' masked ‘stop the boats’ protesters block roads in Dover
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told LBC that he will meet with the CEO and with Sharon Graham at Unite the Union early next week.
He said his first thoughts are about "the human impact of it" and the people who might be directly affected.
Mr Reynolds said: “There is substantial pressure on the automotive sector, but the crucial thing for me is whenever a business of this size and importance might need to consider the scale of its workforce going forward is: how can we mitigate that? How can we work with the local area?"
“I would say specifically because the environment is so hard for automotive. It has been a priority for the government," he said.
Asked whether the government would consider extra tariffs on China, on EVs, to help our own domestic industry, Mr Reynolds said: "It's something as Trade Secretary you consider very carefully."
He said: "But the crucial thing, not just for Jaguar Land Rover but for all of our automotive sector, is we are an export-led industry in the UK, whether that's to Europe, whether that's to China, whether that's to the US, whether it's taking advantage of the trade deal with India.
"So the principal objective is making sure we have access to other markets. If you put tariffs on foreign products coming into the UK, you obviously risk your position relative to that country.”
Unite general secretary Ms 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 jobs losses at JLR.”
JLR revealed last month that revenues fell by 9.6 per cent year-on-year to £6 billion for the three months to June 30, driven by a 9.2 per cent 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.
Car sales volumes have also been impacted by Jaguar’s decision to stop the production of numerous diesel and petrol-run models, including its F-Pace.
Jaguar is shifting its focus to electric models as part of a strategy overhaul to boost the brand’s fortunes.
JLR reported a pre-tax profit, before exceptional items, of £109 million for the quarter, compared with a £351 million 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 £1.7 billion in costs over the coming years to help support its recovery.
The firm has been recovering from the cyberattack last year which had major impact on the business, its employees and the wider UK economy.
The car maker 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.