Legal & General announced plans to cut 1,000 positions by mid-2027 as part of an ongoing organizational transformation. The reduction represents approximately one-tenth of the British insurance and pensions firm’s total workforce of 10,000 employees, the majority of whom are located in the UK. The company informed staff of the initiative on Wednesday following prior reporting by Bloomberg News.
Chief Executive António Simões, who assumed his role in January 2024, characterized the job cuts as the next phase in creating a “leaner organisation.” The redundancy programme will commence with voluntary severance offerings in the UK, with mandatory layoffs considered depending on the uptake rate. The fund management division, which administers £1.2 trillion in assets, has been excluded from these cuts due to its separate restructuring strategy.
Simões has implemented significant changes since taking over from predecessor Nigel Wilson, including streamlining the company’s business structure from four divisions to three through asset management consolidation. The company has divested several non-strategic holdings, most notably the housebuilder Cala Homes, along with legacy land and real estate assets. In June 2024, Simões announced a sharper strategic focus on the firm’s expanding pensions division.
The executive stated that operational complexity has accumulated across Legal & General over the past decade due to varying structures and processes. He indicated the restructuring aims to concentrate resources and investment on areas with the strongest long-term growth potential. The company has also pledged to return more than £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027 through dividend payments and share repurchases.
L&G management indicated the restructuring will support the company’s positioning in a growing pensions market, where £500 billion in transactions are anticipated over the coming decade as employers transfer legacy pension obligations to insurers. The company has reported strong auto-enrolment growth, receiving approximately £1 billion in monthly inflows from new employee pension scheme enrollments.
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