Rolls-Royce reveals sites for 3,000 UK job cuts

Rolls-Royce has announced where its first 3,000 job cuts will be in the UK as the engine maker embarks on shedding 17% of its global workforce due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The FTSE 100 company will launch a voluntary redundancy programme to cut 1,500 jobs at its manufacturing base in Derby and nearby sites in the East Midlands.

Another 700 jobs will go at the Inchinnan site near Glasgow with a further 200 reductions at Barnoldswick in Lancashire and 175 in Solihull in the West Midlands. The company will also shed workers in Rotherham, Washington, Denby, Bristol, Ansty near Coventry and London's Heathrow airport.

The job cuts will mainly affedt the company's civil aerospace business, which has been hit by reduced demand for air travel. Airlines are slashing plans to purchase new planes to rein in costs with passenger numbers expected to take several years to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Chief Executive Warren East has indicated that about two-thirds of 9,000 job reductions would hit the UK. Rolls Royce employed 52,000 people worldwide before the cuts were announced. Its defence business will not be affected.

A Rolls-Royce spokesperson said offering voluntary redundancy was an important step but that "we will unfortunately lose people who have worked hard to establish our world-leading position".

Rhys McCarthy, the Unite union's national office for aerospace, said the union understood Rolls-Royce's predicament but called on the company to develop a diversification plan to save jobs. He said the voluntary redundancy scheme would buy some time to develop a plan.

“Today’s announcement by Rolls-Royce is another warning sign that the UK is in serious danger of losing its leading position in aerospace, in addition to losing thousands of skilled jobs," McCarthy said. “The UK government also has a key role in supporting diversification for the aviation and aerospace industries. We need them to be bold with levels of state investment and support last seen in the post-war period."