BT Suffolk workforce braced as group announces big cuts

The communications giant - which hosts a key technology and innovation hub at Adastral Park near Ipswich - has announced plans to slash its workforce by 40,000 to 55,000 by the end of the decade as it slashes its costs.

The impact of the technology group on the region is significant. It currently employs around 130,000 people globally - including more than 3,000 in East Suffolk - but plans to reduce the overall workforce to fewer than 90,000 by the end of the 2020s.

However, BT said it expects many of the job cuts to come from sub-contractors who tend to be based abroad.

Up to 55,000 jobs could be cut over a five to seven-year period as it digitises its processes, the company said.

Once its full fibre broadband and 5G network is rolled out, it will not need as many staff to build and maintain the network.

The implications for its Martlesham site and Suffolk as a whole are unclear - although Adastral has already been earmarked as a future hub for the business.

"Today is really about the long-term future of the company so really about seven or eight years from now, so too early to say what it means for each region or even city in the UK," explained a spokesman.

"We move work around regularly and continue to grow parts of our business and so it’s impossible to say at this stage what it would mean for Adastral or Suffolk as a whole. Adastral is obviously a strategic location for BT Group."

Chief executive Philip Jansen said: "By continuing to build and connect like fury, digitise the way we work and simplify our structure, by the end of the 2020s BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base.

"New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future."

Many of the cuts will come from "natural attrition", or non-replacement of workers who leave - and it will be working with unions, it said.

According to a BT-commissioned report on the economic impact of BT Group in the UK looking at 2021/22, the company directly employs about 7,620 people in the East of England  and a further 920 as contractor and these collectively earn a total of £340m. 

Of these workers, 3,100 work in East Suffolk - where Adastral is based, 260 at Colchester and 180 in West Suffolk.

There are also smaller workforces spread across the region including Babergh (30), Ipswich (90), Mid Suffolk (30), Braintree (60), Tendring (40) and Uttlesford (10).

Adastral Park is described in the report as "a thriving ecosystem made up of BT, Openreach and 150 businesses in the Innovation Martlesham tech cluster".

The impact of the company on the region is significant, the report shows. The Gross Value Added impact of its presence in the East of England is put at nearly £2.9bn.

It employs one in every 230 employees working in the private sector in the East, and one in every 12 employees working in the IT and communications sectors, according to the study.

£1 in every £150 of GVA was generated directly by BT Group and it supported one in every 40 employees working in the private sector and £1 in every £60 of GVA as a result of the firm’s economic impact.