Tata Steel confirms 2,800 job cuts across UK as Port Talbot steel plant transitions towards electric
19 January 2024, 14:12
Tata Steel has confirmed that around 2,800 jobs will be axed across the UK.
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About 2,500 of the jobs will be axed in the next 18 months, the remaining 300 are expected to be cut in the next three years.
The firm said it will “endeavour to maximise voluntary redundancies” and promised to commit £130m to a support package for affected employees.
Most of the job losses are expected at the Port Talbot, which is the UK’s single largest emitter of CO2.
Tata is closing both blast furnaces at the site as part of plans for a greener form of steelmaking to cut emissions and stem financial losses.
In a statement, Tata said: "Tata Steel today announced it will commence statutory consultation as part of its plan to transform and restructure its UK business.
"This plan is intended to reverse more than a decade of losses and transition from the legacy blast furnaces to a more sustainable, green steel business.
"The transformation would secure most of Tata Steel UK's existing product capability and maintain the country's self-sufficiency in steelmaking, while also reducing Tata Steel UK's CO2 emissions by five million tonnes per year and overall UK country emissions by about 1.5%."
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The first blast furnace is set to close around mid-2024 and the remaining heavy end assets are set to wind down towards the end of the year.
Both furnaces will eventually be replaced with electric arc furnaces, which the government has said it will contribute £500m towards the £1.2bn cost of.
The new furnace will be powered by UK-sourced scrap as raw materials.
Currently, almost all the raw materials needed for the blast furnaces are imported, Tata said.
The Indian-owned firm said the move will cut carbon emissions by about 85% and the UK’s overall CO2 output but around 1.5%.
The job cuts will see nearly three-quarters of its 4,000 current staff at the site put out of work.
Statutory consultation on the cuts will begin, but Tata did not specify when.
It comes after sources reported that Tata rejected alternative proposals aiming to save jobs on Thursday.
Some 5,000 UK staff are set to remain within the wider UK operations after an agreement with the government.
Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, home of the Port Talbot plant said the move was “utterly devastating” for families in his constituency.
He told Sky News: “Steel is the beating heart of manufacturing and of our entire infrastructure and, of course, of our national security.
"Do we really want to be a country, given the dangerous and turbulent world in which we live, that isn't able to produce its own steel?
"There isn't a single household in my Aberavon constituency that isn't connected to the steelworks in some way, and the impact would be utterly devastating."
Ahead of the announcement on Friday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he understood the cuts would be a “worrying time for everyone affected”.
He said: “But what I can tell you is we are absolutely committed to steelmaking in the UK and that's why the government provided £500m to support Tata.”
Unions will consult their members on how to respond to job losses, with industrial action not being ruled out.
A statement by the GMB and Community said: "More than 3,000 jobs and the future of British steelmaking is at stake.
"It is an absolute disgrace that Tata Steel, and the UK Government, appear intent on pursuing the cheapest instead of the best plan for our industry, our steelworkers and our country.
"It's unbelievable any Government would give a company £500 million to throw 3,000 workers on the scrapheap, and our Government must re-evaluate its miserly offer to support investment at Tata Steel."
