BT’s proposals for job cuts at Adastral Park extremely concerning

Prospect is concerned by outline plans from BT Group to cut 1100 jobs from its site at Adastral Park over the next two years. BT has failed to set out reasonable justification for these plans which it claims are to save money and drive collaboration at other sites.

The planned job cuts will predominately impact highly skilled managerial and professional employees, as well as agency contractors. Despite BT’s suggestion that there will be opportunities for impacted workers elsewhere in the business, Prospect believes that these job cuts will amount to redundancies and will actually negatively impact collaboration.

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.”