More than 4,000 jobs to be lost at Rolls-Royce
Derby engineering base expected to be hit hard
Cuts expected to focus on middle management and back office staff
Two-year timescale on job losses - third of cuts expected by end of 2018
Rolls-Royce chief says compulsory redundancies 'inevitable'
Company claims restructuring will save £400m a year
Unite union warns of 'dire consequences' for communities
Latest updates for Thursday 14 June 2018
Simon Hare
BBC Inside Out East Midlands
The scale of the cuts in Derby itself sounds similar to what would've happened had Bombardier left after the Thameslink debacle and that was bad.
Image source, GoogleSomeone told me yesterday there are a lot of empty shops in the Intu centre in Derby. Can only see that getting worse now. Massive economic impact.
Dominic O'Connell
Business Presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme
Warren East took over at Rolls-Royce in the middle of a full-sized crisis - five successive profits warnings had led shareholders to question whether the company's management was actually in control.
He could have taken drastic action then, but company insiders say his first priority was to steady the ship, and reassure the City the company was not on a fatal downward spiral. That has largely been achieved.
That is crucial to shareholders, because it offers a measure of Rolls-Royce delivering on its "jam tomorrow" promise of turning its increasing sales of engines - on which the company loses money - into profitable service and maintenance activities in a few years' time.
Now Mr East is carrying out the next stage of the plan, cutting the middle-management fat to make Rolls-Royce even more profitable.
Gavin Bevis
BBC News
Another Rolls-Royce worker, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s never nice, is it? But management obviously think it’s necessary for the future of the company.
"I don’t think the decision will have been taken lightly.”
Heather Burman
Journalist, BBC News Online
To recap, here's what we know so far about the timescale of the job cuts at Rolls-Royce.
Image source, Getty ImagesEngineering firm Rolls-Royce is to axe 4,600 jobs over the next two years, with the bulk of cuts expected to hit its Derby site and other large bases, such as in Bristol.
About a third of the job cuts are expected to happen by the end of this year with middle managers and back-office staff bearing the brunt of it.
Rolls-Royce said the programme would cost £500m to carry out, including redundancies, but would save it £400m a year by the end of 2020.
The firm has 26,000 employees in the UK, with 15,700 of those in Derby.
Heather Burman
Journalist, BBC News Online
Margaret Beckett will raise Rolls-Royce's job cuts in Parliament later.
The Derby South MP has scheduled an urgent question on redundancies at the firm at about 11:15.
Image source, APSimon Hare
BBC Inside Out East Midlands
It's a cliche, but true - everyone in Derby knows someone at Rolls-Royce if you don't work there yourself.
A very dark day for my home city.
Gavin Bevis
BBC News
Most Rolls-Royce workers arriving for their shifts at Derby's Victory Road this morning were unwilling to talk about the job cuts.
But Oliver Walker-Jones, who works in communications, supported the restructuring.
He said: “My perspective is this is something we need to do to make us as agile as we can be for the future.”
Twitter
Over on Twitter, people have been having their say about the job cuts at Rolls-Royce.
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The engineering firm's chief executive tells the BBC that fundamental change is needed.
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Dave Wade
BBC News
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey tweets...
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Gavin Bevis
BBC News
Staff are arriving for their shifts at Victory Road in Derby as normal this morning.
One worker, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s just one of those things isn’t it?
"If the company’s not going to be competitive then it’s not going to be here for much longer.”
Facebook
People have been reacting to the news of 4,600 job cuts at Rolls-Royce on social media this morning.
Sally Collins-Adams said on Facebook, external: "I’ve worked there for 39 years next month I might not make 40 sad times maybe some of these fat cats should take a drop in salary."
Image source, PATom Meakin wrote: "So £4.9bn of profit last year and they’re cutting jobs! As usual it’s the folks at the bottom who suffer whilst greedy shareholders get richer."
And Gary Tucker commented: "If you can see how many white collar staff we have its not surprising....Even tho I don't like to see any one lose there Job"
Navtej Johal
East Midlands Today reporter
Derby South MP Margaret Beckett has told the BBC she's "very sad" to hear about the job losses.
Image source, UK Parliament"The government should say what it can do" to help, the Labour MP said.
Heather Burman
Journalist, BBC News Online
These 4,600 jobs cuts are believed to be the biggest at Rolls-Royce since 2001 - after the impact of the 9/11 attacks.
Then the firm shed more than 5,000 jobs globally after a £1bn slump in orders followed the terrorist attacks in New York.
Image source, Rolls-RoyceIn June 2017, Rolls-Royce cut a deal with unions to safeguard 7,000 front-line engineering jobs in the East Midlands for five years and invest in UK aerospace facilities.
The firm's earnings for 2017 were better than expected, with profits before tax of £4.9bn.
That followed a £4.6bn loss in 2016 - the largest in the firm's history - due to settling corruption cases and currency hedges going wrong, among other factors.
Dave Wade
BBC News
Reuters has said the job cuts announced today come at a tricky time for a company which has been hit by problems with some aero-engines.
The firm has said it will continue to work on the problems with its Trent 1000 engine which powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet and were designed and developed in Derby.
Image source, ReutersParts in the engines have been wearing out faster than anticipated, causing some planes to be grounded.
The firm has said it will take years to modify all the engines in service.
Dave Wade
BBC News
Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, said the job cuts were "a damning indictment" of the government's hands-off industrial policy.
"Currently we have private shareholders directing the fate of some of Britain's most premier firms, with total disregard for the economic needs of the country. The government has to intervene," he said.
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Some compulsory job cuts are "inevitable", the chief executive of Rolls-Royce says.
Image source, Rolls-RoyceWarren East told the Today programme that voluntary redundancy schemes will be put in place. But with the 4,600 cuts scheduled for the next two years, "the timescale means some compulsory losses are inevitable".
Rolls-Royce has some "no compulsory redundancy" deals with unions, and these will be honoured, he said.
The job losses will come mainly from management and corporate support, as the company seeks to thin out hierarchies.
Mr East confirmed that the company's Derby operations will bear the brunt of the losses. Rolls-Royce employs 15,700 people in the city.
Dave Wade
BBC News
The Unite union has warned of a "dire economic impact" on the communities reliant on Rolls-Royce jobs.
Image source, AFP/Getty ImagesThe firm has announced 4,600 job cuts affecting mostly back-office staff and middle managers and with around half understood to be in Derby.
Unite said it has had a recent collective agreement with the company not to make any compulsory redundancies and said it would seek similar guarantees after today's announcement.
Steve Turner, from the union, said: “This announcement will be deeply unsettling for Rolls-Royce workers and their families and could have a dire economic impact on local communities reliant on Rolls-Royce jobs.
“There is a real danger that Rolls-Royce will cut too deep and too fast with these jobs cuts, which could ultimately damage the smooth running of the company and see vital skills and experience lost."
BBC Business News
The aero-engine company estimates that the restructuring cost of its 4,600 job cuts will be about £500m, mainly in redundancy payments.
But the firm says the restructuring savings will eventually be about £400m a year.