Big Four UK: 900 redundancies and counting over 2024
Over 900 roles were made redundant at the UK Big Four firms over 2024, as the accountancy giants lit up the headlines for a second year running.
The Big Four put some 1,800 jobs on the chopping block over 2023, a trend that continued well into 2024 and may dip into 2025, as the giants battle a profitability problem.
Ernst & Young (EY) started the year off by reportedly cutting 24 of its legal roles in its Financial Services Legal Advisory Services business. This was the second redundancy round of legal cuts in the UK after the firm closed its Manchester-based, EY Riverview Law, in December 2023, with a loss of 55 jobs.
The firm went on to report in October that its UK net revenue grew by a single-digit percentage over 2024, while fee income remained flat due to a reduction in large cross border transactions.
Its competitor, Deloitte, led the way this year with the amount of roles it made redundant with over 500 positions. The firm announced in September 2023 that it would make around 800 redundancies in the UK, but in February, an extra 100 was added to that figure.
However, it was reported in October and November that 250 and then 180 roles across its advisory divisions were set to be cut.
A spokesperson at the time stated that “in the context of an ongoing challenging market, we have to carefully consider the shape of our firm. This means that we have unfortunately announced some proposed restructuring across parts of our UK business.”
Deloitte revealed its UK revenue increased slightly, by over two per cent, over the recent financial year, but despite that its profit stalled in the challenging market.
KPMG hit the headlines in June after it was revealed that the firm was set to cut 200 of its back-office and client-facing roles following a review of its cost base.
The roles were set to be officially reduced by 1 October, a year after it was announced around 110 roles were dropped from its deals business.
Finally, while PwC did not make the headlines with figures, it was reported by the Financial Times back in June that it was making ‘silent lay-offs’.
It was stated that the firm launched a voluntary severance programme across multiple UK offices, but warned they weren’t to inform colleagues why they were leaving.
This came before PwC UK reported single-digit growth in revenue, but this came against the backdrop of the group’s profit and partner pay dropping, again.
As the year comes to an end, news of redundancies across the Big Four UK arms has yet to stop. Just last week, EY revealed it is set to cut 150 roles in its UK 4,700-strong consultancy division, expected to impact managers, senior managers and directors.
Commenting at the time, a spokesperson for the firm stated that “a consultation process is now underway with those impacted by these proposals.”
All firms were approached.