Admiral cutting 500 jobs from its UK insurance business

The Cardiff headquartered business said it will reduce headcount by around 5%

Wales’ only FTSE 100 business Admiral has confirmed plans to cut around 500 roles from its UK insurance business. The Cardiff headquartered group has begun a 45-day collective consultation period with impacted staff.

The restructuring, which will reduce headcount at its UK insurance business by 5%, forms part of £100m in cost-savings announced when it published its financial results for 2025 back in March.

Admiral said it was too early to say whether the reduction in staff could be achieved voluntarily or whether there could be compulsory redundancies.

It said it will be offering enhanced redundancy packages to impacted staff and a series of other support measures, including up to £10,000 for those deciding to start their own businesses alongside mentoring support,

While its UK insurance business, whose major insurance line is vehicle related, but also includes other lines such as travel and pet, is trading strongly, it said the move was designed to reduce complexities across the business.

It stressed that while it uses AI, its adoption was not the reason for what is the insurer’s largest ever redundancy round. It added that the transformation programme is “designed to create a simpler, faster and more effective business that is easier for customers to deal with and better prepared for the future.”

Its UK business has a workforce of nearly 10,000, of which 6,700 are based in Cardiff and just under 2,000 at its Swansea office. It also has a presence in Peterborough following its acquisition of insurer More Than.

Chief executive of Admiral UK Insurance, Alistair Hargreaves, said: “We are making changes to Admiral’s UK Insurance business to ensure we have the right structure, skills and ways of working to meet evolving customer needs. These changes are aimed at making us faster and more efficient so we can continue to deliver great customer outcomes.

“Unfortunately, these proposed changes could result in a number of role reductions if implemented. We recognise this will be a difficult time for affected colleagues and our immediate priority is to support those impacted colleagues, including exploring redeployment opportunities wherever possible. Alongside enhanced redundancy terms, we are also making a significant investment in meaningful support to help colleagues consider future options.”

Other support measures that will be offered to staff will include up to £5,000 for professional qualifications, accredited training and further education.

It said that staff undertaking approved retraining can apply to work part-time for up to 12 months while gaining new qualifications or developing skills for a new profession.

It is also working with specialist outplacement partner LHH to provide career coaching, job search support, CV and interview preparation, networking guidance and career transition expertise.

For its 2025 financial year, revealed in March, Admiral reported a 16% surge in pre-tax profit to £957.9m. Group turnover came in at £5.9bn, down 1% on 2024.

On the back of the results some 13,000 staff – it also has businesses in France, Italy and Spain, received £1,800 in free shares.