Legal & General to Cut 1,000 Jobs by Mid-2027

Legal & General plans to cut 1,000 jobs by the middle of next year, a reduction that equates to roughly a tenth of the British insurance and pensions firm's workforce.

The programme will begin with voluntary redundancies in the UK, the company said. Legal & General will consider mandatory job cuts depending on how many employees take the voluntary offer.

António Simões, the chief executive, is wielding the axe as part of his attempts to create a "leaner organisation" since taking over from longtime CEO Nigel Wilson in January 2024. L&G described the move as "the next stage of that transformation".

The cuts mark the most significant staffing decision of Simões's tenure so far. He inherited the top job from Wilson, who led the insurer for more than a decade, and has moved steadily to restructure the business since then.

By starting with voluntary redundancies, Legal & General gives itself room to gauge workforce response before resorting to compulsory departures. The company has not specified which UK functions will bear the brunt of the reductions.

The 1,000-job target lands by mid-2027, giving management roughly a year to execute the programme. The final shape of the cuts — voluntary or mandatory — will depend on employee take-up, a variable the company cannot fully control.

The restructuring signals that Simões intends to keep pressing for efficiency gains across the insurer's operations, with further cost-driven decisions likely as the transformation advances.