KPMG UK Cuts 4% of Tech Roles, Targeting AI and Cyber

KPMG UK is pushing ahead with job cuts in the technology and data areas of its advisory division. The cuts amount to about 4% of the division. The policy was communicated internally in July. Those affected are expected to leave in October. The affected groups include AI, cyber, SAP, and testing teams.

According to reporting by Paul Kunert of The Register, dissatisfaction is spreading over the severance terms. One affected employee described the terms as follows.

“insulting and disgraceful.”

The document presented sets out a package of statutory redundancy pay plus enhancements. For calculating weekly pay, it instructs staff to divide annual salary by 52. A number of weeks based on age and length of service applies. Service under age 22 counts as 0.5 weeks per year. Service from ages 22 to 40 counts as 1 week per year. Service from age 41 onward counts as 1.5 weeks per year.

Length of service of up to 20 years is counted. Where service exceeds 20 years, the most recent 20 years form the basis. When turning 41, the 1.5-week rate applies only to years of service completed after age 41. The document also includes examples for three employees. Two of the examples are depicted as satisfied. Actual employees have reacted coolly.

Four Divisions Targeted, Including AI and Cyber

The current targets are technology-focused groups within the advisory division. In addition to AI and cyber, SAP and testing teams are included. All are areas supporting enterprise implementation and operations. AI is a field with growing demand for design and assurance. Cyber is responsible for building defense systems and supporting audit responses. SAP is closely tied to core business system renewal projects. Testing supports quality assurance processes.

The scale of the cuts is said to be about 4% of the overall advisory division. The specific number of people has not been disclosed. Those affected are scheduled to leave the firm in October. After a consultation process, they will be asked to sign settlement agreements. The move is positioned as a reorganization of technology-related groups.

The importance of testing processes is growing in other fields as well. For example, there is a discussion of pre-release validation systems in GNOME OS Test Center Inspired by Apple TestFlight. Quality assurance methods directly affect product reliability. Shrinking the affected groups could affect project delivery structures. Work allocation will need to be reviewed among remaining staff.

Severance Calculation Method and Enhancements

The severance is based on the statutory calculation method. Weekly pay is multiplied by a factor based on length of service and age band. The factor has three tiers: 0.5 weeks, 1 week, and 1.5 weeks. Up to 20 years of service are counted. Partial years of service exceeding six months are included in the total. As an enhancement, the statutory weekly pay cap of £751 is removed.

A minimum guarantee is also provided. A certain amount is guaranteed regardless of length of service. One benchmark is £1,250 plus statutory redundancy pay. The other is eight weeks’ pay, including the statutory element. Whichever is higher applies. Pay in lieu of notice is also provided. It may include employer pension contributions and car allowances.

Removing the weekly pay cap benefits higher earners. The minimum guarantee matters for short-serving employees. Long-serving employees will see up to 20 years of accumulation reflected. The treatment of age bands affects payout amounts. Service around age 41 makes the calculation complex. The document tries to aid understanding with examples. Even so, individual payouts vary widely depending on circumstances.

Employee Reaction and Background to the

Reorganization

Employee reaction has been harsh. Some voices call the offered amounts insulting and disgraceful. The gap with the upbeat depictions in the examples has deepened dissatisfaction. Some see the reorganization as prioritizing profits for equity partners. Distrust is seen to have spread during the internal consultation process.

The background to the reorganization has not been officially stated. Some observers believe profitability and changing demand in the advisory business are factors. Technology projects see large fluctuations in rates and durations. While AI-related inquiries are increasing, staffing structures are being reviewed. Cyber is costly to maintain expertise. SAP is susceptible to cycles of large projects. Testing staffing is changing with automation.

Balancing quality and cost is a challenge even for home devices. New Google Home Speaker Falls Short of 6-Year-Old Nest Audio in Sound Quality is an example showing the difficulty of design decisions. Resource allocation is also at issue for enterprise technology support. Aligning profit structures with staffing is becoming the focus. These cuts can be seen as part of that effort. Detailed selection criteria remain unclear.

Workforce Adjustments Across the UK

Consulting Industry

Advisory businesses at the Big Four accounting firms continue to fluctuate. Workloads rise and fall with economic and policy changes. Technology divisions mix growth areas with areas being streamlined. Fields with stepped-up hiring coexist with fields facing cuts. Workforce resets are carried out on an ongoing basis.

In the UK, a statutory consultation process is required. Employers must explain the terms and who is affected. Signing settlement agreements aims to bring disputes to an end. Treatment of notice pay and pensions becomes an issue. The current document also follows that process. The level of the terms is at issue.

Defensive measures for core technologies also affect operating costs. Countermeasures are becoming more sophisticated, as in AMD ESMTP Blocks SMT Threats on EPYC with Linux Support. Securing and developing specialist talent requires investment. Areas that are unprofitable are outsourced or downsized. Reorganizations of technology groups overlap with industry-wide trends. KPMG’s move is seen as part of that trend.

Editorial Opinion

In the short term, we see mobility increasing in the UK IT labor market. Experienced AI and cyber professionals may increasingly move to corporate roles. Within KPMG, increased workloads for remaining staff will be unavoidable, and rebuilding project teams will become urgent, in our assessment.

In the long term, we see the role of consulting-style technology support changing. Routine development and testing will be increasingly automated and brought in-house, potentially shrinking the scope of outsourcing. Demand will concentrate on advanced design and governance expertise, advancing polarization in workforce composition, in our assessment.

What our editorial team is watching is the transparency of the cut criteria. The reasons for selecting the affected units and whether redeployment was offered have not been sufficiently explained. The question of who verifies the adequacy of severance terms also remains. The question may be how the value of engineers is measured.

References

• “KPMG tech cuts come with a severance sum some staff call insulting”, by Paul Kunert — The Register, 2026-09-18T10:32:00.000Z (ARR)
• Source URL: https://www.theregister.com/channel/2026/09/18/kpmg-tech-cuts-come-with-a-severance-sum-some-staff-call-insulting/5296942