A Voluntary Redundancy Programme Is Still a Selection Process

A voluntary redundancy programme sounds like the soft version of a layoff. It is not. It is a selection process with a friendlier first step.

Legal & General confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 jobs by the middle of 2027, about a tenth of its roughly 10,000-person workforce. The company will initially seek voluntary redundancies among UK staff, with compulsory cuts possible if applications fall short. Asset management is excluded because it has its own restructuring plans. The report is dated September 25, 2026, and it is one company's confirmed restructuring, not a market-wide survey. Source

The detail that matters for operators is the legal one. A voluntary process does not remove the need for genuine consultation, and employers can decline volunteers whose skills are critical. If voluntary take-up does not deliver the numbers, the process moves to selection pools and criteria. That is where subjective measures like 'organisational fit' become hard to defend, and where apparently neutral criteria such as attendance records can create risk. The source says L&G has not said how many reductions will ultimately be compulsory.

My read: the voluntary phase is a planning window. If you run a team in insurance, pensions, or UK professional services, this is a live headcount signal. Decide which roles you can actually lose, which skills you need to keep, and what objective criteria you would use if volunteers do not cover the gap. Candidates should not read this as open demand across L&G. The cuts are outside asset management, and the final mix of voluntary and compulsory exits is still unknown.