Washington jobs fear as Rolls-Royce announces 2,500 cuts

Workers at a Wearside aerospace plant face an anxious wait after Rolls-Royce announced plans to axe around 2,500 jobs worldwide.

The firm has not disclosed where the job cuts will take place but around half of its current workforce are based in the UK - including at its Washington plant which manufactures fan and turbine discs for jet engines.

Tufan Erginbilgic, who was appointed as chief executive in January, said the shake-up would make the Derby-based engineering giant 'a more streamlined and efficient' business.

The aerospace engineering specialist which currently employs 42,000 people, said it also plans to remove 'duplication' and deliver cost efficiencies through the latest stage in its transformation plan.

The company’s plan will include creating a new procurement division in order to reduce costs by leveraging the group’s scale.

It also said that some back-office operations, such as human resources and finance, will be brought closer together.

Mr Erginbilgic said: “We are building a Rolls-Royce that is fit for the future.

“Our business is full of committed, talented people and I believe these changes will enable them to build greater capability in areas that are key to our long-term success.

“This is another step on our multi-year transformation journey to build a high performing, competitive, resilient and growing Rolls-Royce.”

The new boss had been expected to reveal a significant shake-up involving job cuts after describing Rolls-Royce’s performance as “unsustainable” earlier this year.

The former BP executive told staff in January there was a “last chance” to change, according to a briefing seen by the Financial Times.

The latest cuts come after it axed around 9,000 jobs - including 50 at Washington - shortly after the pandemic after first starting its transformation plan in order turn its finances around.