JCB looks to cut up to 950 jobs as COVID-19 hits demand

The company’s boss says the firm “had no choice but to take difficult decisions to adapt to this new economic reality”.

Up to 950 jobs are under threat at JCB after demand for its machines fell by half as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

The company has written to staff to say posts are under threat at its 10 plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham, with a 45-day consultation period starting on Monday.

Around 500 Guidant agency employees, who work at JCB’s UK sites, are also being let go.

The job losses have been announced as a result of the severe disruption caused to JCB’s business by the coronavirus pandemic, which will see annual production halved.

Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said the move to restructure JCB’s business had been extremely tough but that the company “had no choice but to take difficult decisions to adapt to this new economic reality”.

He said: “In 2020 we had planned to sell and produce over 100,000 machines. With so much global uncertainty, that figure right now is looking more like 50,000 machines.

“In the UK, around 85% of everything we manufacture is exported and our UK factories will now produce machines at half the rate we had planned just a few months ago.

Macdonald added: “It is deeply regrettable that we have had to take these steps to restructure the business and that it will have an impact on so many people.

“No business could have anticipated the scale of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic consequences.

“JCB has had to act quickly for the long-term survival of the business, which has been at the heart of our decision-making throughout this difficult period.”