Jaguar Land Rover to cut up to 4,000 jobs as government rules out bailout

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) told staff on Friday it will launch a voluntary redundancy programme as part of £1.7bn of cuts over two years, with up to 4,000 job losses possible.

The Tata Motors–owned carmaker is expected to set out further details on Monday and may confirm that compulsory redundancies are being considered. The potential cuts amount to almost 12% of JLR’s 34,000-strong UK workforce.

Before crunch talks on Tuesday between JLR, union leaders and government officials, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it was not his job to “intervene and run businesses” and ruled out using taxpayers’ money to “bail people out.”

Reynolds said discussions could focus on ensuring the workforce is right to make the business competitive over time. He also did not rule out loosening government targets for 80% zero-emission car sales by 2030 amid an open consultation and said the government is sometimes prepared to invest “alongside” industry.

Sources said redundancies are expected to be weighted towards senior management and research and development roles rather than shop-floor production workers. JLR, whose largest plant is in Solihull in the West Midlands, is responding to falling sales worsened by last year’s cyber-attack, US tariffs and competition from Chinese models.

After the cyber-attack the government provided a £1.5bn guaranteed loan facility that has not been drawn down. In 2024 the government invested £500m in Tata’s Port Talbot steelworks to build electric arc furnaces; that support did not prevent 2,500 job losses there.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham is expected to press Reynolds on Tuesday for measures to avoid compulsory cuts in favour of retraining or voluntary redundancy where possible. The Department for Business and Trade did not respond to Guardian requests for comment in the story.