Key facts
- BT's workforce fell by 7,731 to 90,000 since the end of March, excluding international staff.
- Pre-tax profit rose 12% to £1.1bn in the six months to the end of September.
- BT shares rose as much as 6% in early trading on Thursday, touching a five-year high.
- BT raised its savings target to £3.7bn by 2030 from £3bn by 2029.
- BT expects headcount to end the decade at between 75,000 and 80,000.
- Openreach's full-fibre network has reached 24.1m homes, with a 25m target by the end of the year.
BT has cut 7,731 jobs since the end of March, leaving a workforce of 90,000 excluding staff in its international business, the telecoms group said on November 5, 2026. The international unit is being spun out in a joint venture with the US telecoms company Verizon. BT had a workforce, including contractors, of about 130,000 people two years ago.
Most of the cuts have been at BT's Openreach division, as the buildout of its fibre network slows, and through a drive to cut billions in costs by 2030. The reductions helped lift pre-tax profit by 12% to £1.1bn in the six months to the end of September.
BT shares, listed in London, rose by as much as 6% in early trading on Thursday, touching a five-year high and ranking among the best performers across the FTSE 100.
Allison Kirkby, who became chief executive in February 2024, has overseen a multibillion-pound cost-cutting programme. This year she said BT would raise its savings target from £3bn by 2029 to £3.7bn by 2030. The group's headcount is now expected to end the decade at between 75,000 and 80,000, toward the lower end of a range of 75,000 to 90,000 set out in 2023, when BT said AI could eliminate the equivalent of about 10,000 roles.
Kirkby's pay and bonus package more than doubled last year to £5.6m, the biggest pay award to a boss of the company in more than a decade. BT shares have risen by more than 70% since she took the role. She has also overseen the £400m takeover of smaller rival TalkTalk, and said on Thursday she could not give details on plans for the business while the deal is under regulatory review. TalkTalk, headquartered in Salford, employs about 900 people, and the deal secured telecoms supply to 2.5m households and public service customers including hospitals and schools.
Virgin Media O2, which had also looked at buying TalkTalk, reacted angrily at the time, calling the deal a "stitch-up" that would further boost BT's dominant position. BT is the biggest broadband provider in the UK with a market share of about 30%, according to estimates by Enders Analysis. Openreach, the broadband network owned by BT, is also TalkTalk's biggest supplier.
BT told investors on Thursday it had record demand for Openreach's full-fibre network, so far rolled out to 24.1m homes, and is targeting 25m by the end of the year. VMO2 announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in an £800m cost-savings drive earlier this week.