Legal & General to cut 1,000 jobs by mid-2027 in major restructuring
Synopsis
Legal & General is cutting roughly 1,000 jobs — 10% of its workforce — by mid-2027, the most visible sign yet that CEO Antonio Simoes is remaking one of Britain's biggest insurers from the ground up. With £1.2 trillion under management and a £5 billion shareholder return pledge on the line, the pressure to get leaner is real — and the restructuring is far from finished.
Key Takeaways
Legal & General Group Plc plans to eliminate approximately 1,000 jobs — around 10% of its workforce — by mid-2027 .
The restructuring was announced to employees on 23 September 2026 ; the first phase focuses on voluntary redundancies .
Chief Executive Antonio Simoes , who joined in January 2024 , is driving the simplification to create a 'leaner organisation.' The group's fund management arm , overseeing £1.2 trillion in assets, is excluded from this round as it has its own restructuring under way.
Simoes has pledged to return more than £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027 via dividends and buybacks.
Non-core asset sales, including housebuilder Cala Homes , have already been completed as part of the broader strategy.
UK-based insurance and pensions giant Legal & General Group Plc is preparing to eliminate approximately 1,000 jobs by mid-2027 — representing roughly 10 per cent of its total workforce — as Chief Executive Antonio Simoes pushes ahead with a sweeping simplification drive aimed at sharpening the group's operational edge.
What the Restructuring Involves
The company informed employees on Wednesday, 23 September 2026 that it had commenced the process of removing around 1,000 roles, according to a report by The Guardian. The initial phase is expected to centre on voluntary redundancies, though compulsory job cuts remain a possibility if the voluntary response falls short. Most of Legal & General's approximately 10,000 employees are based in the United Kingdom.
Notably, the group's fund management arm — which oversees roughly £1.2 trillion in assets — has been carved out of this exercise, as it is already undergoing a separate restructuring programme of its own.
The CEO's Transformation Agenda
Simoes, who took over as chief executive in January 2024, has steadily restructured Legal & General since assuming the role. In June 2024, he announced a sharper focus on the pensions business and collapsed the company's four operating divisions into three by consolidating its asset management units. The group has since divested several assets deemed non-strategic, including housebuilder Cala Homes and legacy land and real estate holdings.
Simoes has also assembled a new executive leadership team and pledged to return more than £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027 through dividends and share buybacks.
What the Company Said
In an internal email to staff, Simoes acknowledged that Legal & General had made 'significant progress' in simplifying the group and establishing three core businesses. However, he noted that 'different structures, processes and working practices' had developed over the past decade, leaving the organisation 'more complex than necessary.'
The CEO said the company needed to 'become a leaner organisation' and change the way it operates. A company spokesperson added that the changes would allow Legal & General to 'focus its resources and investment on areas with the strongest opportunities for long-term growth.'
Broader Context and Industry Backdrop
The move reflects a wider pattern among large UK financial institutions rationalising their structures amid persistent cost pressures, rising technology investments, and investor demands for higher returns. Legal & General's announcement comes as British insurers and asset managers face mounting pressure to demonstrate leaner cost bases while competing with global asset-management giants.
This is the latest in a series of major cost-cutting exercises across the UK financial services sector in recent years, underscoring that the restructuring cycle in the industry is far from over. With the voluntary redundancy phase now under way, the full scale of job losses will become clearer over the coming months.
Point of View
But the more telling detail is what has been excluded: the £1.2 trillion fund management arm is already on its own restructuring track, meaning the overall transformation at Legal & General is broader and deeper than this announcement alone suggests. Simoes is essentially dismantling and reassembling a 180-year-old institution at speed, and the voluntary-first approach to redundancies is as much a risk-management tactic as a show of good faith — compulsory cuts remain explicitly on the table. Investors watching the £5 billion shareholder return pledge will want to see cost savings materialise cleanly; any execution stumble in the redundancy process could test both employee morale and market confidence simultaneously.
NationPress
23 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
How many jobs is Legal & General cutting and by when?
Legal & General plans to cut approximately 1,000 jobs — around 10% of its roughly 10,000-strong workforce — by mid-2027. The process began with employee notifications on 23 September 2026.
Why is Legal & General making these job cuts?
Chief Executive Antonio Simoes is streamlining the group to reduce complexity built up over a decade of different structures, processes, and working practices. The goal is to create a leaner organisation focused on three core businesses with stronger long-term growth prospects.
Will the redundancies be voluntary or compulsory?
The initial phase focuses on voluntary redundancies. However, the company has said compulsory job cuts could follow if the voluntary response from employees is insufficient to reach the targeted reduction.
Is Legal & General's fund management arm affected?
No. The fund management division, which oversees around £1.2 trillion in assets, has been excluded from this round as it is already undergoing a separate restructuring programme.
What else has CEO Antonio Simoes done since joining Legal & General?
Since taking over in January 2024, Simoes has reduced the group's operating divisions from four to three, sold non-core assets including housebuilder Cala Homes, formed a new executive leadership team, and pledged to return more than £5 billion to shareholders between 2025 and 2027 through dividends and share buybacks.
