Union 'extremely concerned' about BT plans to cut 1,100 jobs at Adastral Park
Propect says the telecoms firm has "failed to set out reasonable justification for these plans"
Last updated 7th Jul 2023
A union says its 'extremely concerned' about plans from BT to cut 1,100 jobs at Adastral Park near Ipswich over the next two years.
Propect says the telecoms firm has "failed to set out reasonable justification for these plans which it claims are to save money and drive collaboration at other sites."
Around 3,000 people are employed at the Martlesham site, with the cuts said to affect predominantly managerial and professional roles as well as agency workers.
Philippa Childs, Prospect Deputy General Secretary said:
“For 50 years the Adastral Park site at Martlesham Heath has been the centre of research and engineering excellence for the UK telecommunications industry.
"Fragmenting this centre and losing the environment of collaboration, innovation and creativity it fosters will diminish the business and have a huge personal impact upon the people involved.
“The likely impact on the local economy in Suffolk cannot be overstated.
“Prospect urges BT to be fully transparent about its business case for significantly reducing jobs at Adastral Park and to consider all alternatives to making these highly skilled workers redundant.”
BT says its spreading its talent out across the UK and remains committed to maintaining a presence at Adastral Park.
A BT Group spokesperson said: “We’re consolidating into a smaller number of buildings around the UK that provide cutting edge technology and great working environments for our people."
"As part of these activities, we’re proposing to reduce the size of our presence at Adastral Park and move some roles to other BT Group locations over the next two years.
“We’re committed to Adastral Park for the long-term, and we’ll continue to invest in our facilities there as a number of our core operations, research and security functions will remain on-site.
"We’ll work closely with any colleagues impacted by these changes and will offer support including relocation and redeployment options wherever possible.”