Admiral has confirmed that some of the roles it plans to cut in the UK would be done in India instead. But it will not say how many of the nearly 2,000 staff at its Swansea office are at risk.
A spokesperson for the insurer said: “These proposed changes would mean some roles being carried out in India.” The company says it is “unable to share exactly how many colleagues in our Swansea office may be affected”, and that “location was not a consideration” in deciding which roles go.
The spokesperson said it was not a case of around 500 UK roles being replaced by around 500 in India. The moves depend on the role rather than where it is based, and apply to some roles in some departments.
‘Remove some roles in the UK and scale our Delhi operations’
Admiral announced on 23 September that it plans to cut about 500 roles from its UK insurance business, around 5% of the workforce, as part of a drive to save £100m. A 45-day consultation with staff runs into early November.
A document sent to staff in one department says the company is “proposing to remove some roles in the UK and scale our Delhi operations”. Admiral confirms the document, and says it refers to one small team with very few people, where adding a handful more is what “scaling” means.
That document is not a picture of the overall plan, the spokesperson said. Admiral says it has had a “long-established presence” in India and will keep “continuing to develop capability” there “alongside our existing UK teams”, and that it “remains committed to its UK operations and the significant role they play in serving customers, developing talent and leading the business”.
A reply to the council leader, but still no site breakdown
Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart wrote to Alistair Hargreaves, chief executive of Admiral’s UK insurance business, last week seeking “urgent clarification” of what the cuts mean for the city. Admiral says a response has been sent. It did not say what the reply contains.
Asked whether Swansea staff would be told how the cuts fall between sites before the consultation ends, the company said everyone affected had already been briefed, at every site. “Decisions are based on the work required for the future, the capabilities needed to deliver it, and how the organisation can operate more effectively, and not a particular location,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that Admiral was committed to Swansea, and that the Swansea and Cardiff offices were both important to the company.
Admiral employs nearly 10,000 people in the UK, 6,700 of them in Cardiff and just under 2,000 at Admiral Group House in SA1. How the 500 fall between the two is the one number the company is not giving.
‘Completely optional’, the Senedd was told
Economy minister Adam Price told the Senedd last week that ministers did not know how the redundancies would be apportioned across sites, and that he was meeting Admiral’s UK chief executive.
Gwyn Williams, Plaid Cymru MS for Gŵyr Abertawe, told the chamber the cuts were “completely optional” for a company he said made a £958m profit last year, and would be “a disproportionate hit on the economy of Gŵyr Abertawe”.
Admiral says the cuts are not related to artificial intelligence, and are about having “the right structure, skills and ways of working to meet evolving customer needs”. Mr Hargreaves said last month: “We recognise this will be a difficult time for affected colleagues and our immediate priority is to support those impacted colleagues, including exploring redeployment opportunities wherever possible.”
It is too early to say whether the cuts will be voluntary or compulsory, the company says. Staff who lose their jobs are being offered enhanced redundancy pay, help finding work, up to £5,000 towards qualifications and up to £10,000 to start a business.
Cllr Stewart has asked the Welsh Government to open ReAct+, its retraining scheme for people made redundant, to anyone affected.
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