Rolls-Royce announces 140 further redundancies at Barnoldswick

As part of its latest range of cost-cutting measures, Rolls-Royce has announced the loss of 140 jobs from its Barnoldswick site, in addition to the 350 already announced.

The company warned in June that it would need to make around £1.5bn in savings from its global operations as a result of Covid-19's impact on the aerospace sector.

This latest news will see the company consolidate the manufacture of its aero-engine structures into ITP Aero, at the cost of 140 jobs.

This will leave around 520 still employed within Barnoldswick.

Chris Cholerton, president – civil aerospace, at Rolls-Royce, said: "Since the beginning of the pandemic we have taken swift action to protect our business by both reducing our spending and costs, and by raising additional funds. But despite the prospect that business will eventually return to normal, sparked by recent news of vaccines, the pandemic has created a once-in-a-generation shock to the whole of commercial aviation and it is going to take years to recover. By completing the restructuring of our Civil Aerospace business we can emerge as a stronger, more efficient and sustainable business able to tackle some of the world’s toughest technological challenges.

"I understand that the announcement will be hugely upsetting for our colleagues in Barnoldswick. This is a very difficult proposal to make, but we cannot afford to retain every Rolls-Royce factory that was supported by demand that has been dramatically reduced by the pandemic. No government support scheme can replace sustainable customer demand and no government can sign-up to extending the sort of short-term measures we have been very grateful for, over multiple years."

Workers' union Unite was already in dispute with the company regarding the initial job losses and the two organisations had clashed over the decision by Rolls-Royce to close its factory through December.

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