Insurer Admiral plans to cut around 500 jobs from its UK insurance business as the Cardiff-based insurer works towards £100 mn in cost savings announced earlier this year.
The proposed restructuring represents about 5% of the UK insurance workforce. Admiral has started a 45-day collective consultation with affected employees and said it is too early to determine how many departures will be voluntary or compulsory.
The changes apply only to Admiral’s UK insurance operation, which employs almost 10,000 people. Around 6,700 work in Cardiff, while just under 2,000 are based at its Swansea office. Admiral also has staff in Peterborough following its acquisition of the More Than insurance business.
Admiral UK Insurance chief executive Alistair Hargreaves said the company is changing its organisational structure, skills and working practices as customer requirements change. Management expects the restructuring to simplify operations and reduce costs while maintaining service standards.
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.
Alistair Hargreaves, Admiral UK Insurance chief executive
Admiral said employees whose roles disappear will receive enhanced redundancy terms alongside career transition support. The insurer plans to offer redeployment where suitable positions exist and has set aside additional funding for employees considering other careers.
Support includes up to £10,000 for employees who decide to start their own businesses, together with mentoring. Staff seeking professional qualifications, accredited training or further education will have access to funding of up to £5,000.
Employees undertaking approved retraining will also have the option to move to part-time working for as long as 12 months while studying for qualifications or developing skills for another profession.
Admiral is working with outplacement company LHH to provide career coaching, job-search assistance, CV preparation, interview support and networking guidance.
The restructuring forms part of the £100 mn cost-saving programme Admiral announced with its 2025 financial results in March. Management said the programme is intended to reduce complexity across the UK insurance operation and change how teams work.
Admiral stressed that artificial intelligence isn’t behind the planned redundancies, despite the insurer already using AI and machine-learning systems across parts of its business.
The company has invested heavily in those technologies and said in its 2025 results that machine-learning and AI models generated more than £100 mn of value for the UK insurance operation during the year.
Admiral also operates a generative AI centre focused on selected use cases, employee training and internal tools. More than 150 GenAI initiatives were under development or testing by the end of 2025, including agentic AI pilots and software-development automation.
The insurer’s statement separates those investments from the current workforce reduction. Admiral described the restructuring as an organisational and cost programme rather than a direct substitution of employees with AI systems.
UK Insurance remains Admiral’s largest business and is dominated by motor cover, alongside household, travel and pet insurance. The group has expanded into additional product lines in recent years, including pet and commercial insurance, while integrating More Than policies acquired from RSA.
The planned cuts arrive despite profitable trading. Admiral reported group profit before tax of £957.9 mn for 2025, up 16% from £827 mn a year earlier, while group turnover slipped 1% to £5.9 bn.
UK Motor generated £1.024 bn of profit during 2025, compared with £955 mn a year earlier. Admiral’s other UK insurance lines contributed £62 mn, up from £22 mn in 2024 as the More Than portfolio moved into the business and customer numbers increased.
Around 13,000 Admiral employees across the group received £1,800 in free shares following the 2025 results. Admiral also operates insurance businesses in France, Italy and Spain, although the proposed 500-role reduction doesn’t apply to those operations.
The company’s latest half-year figures show UK Insurance remains profitable but earnings have moderated. Profit before tax for the division reached £485 mn in the first half of 2026, down from £584.4 mn in the same period of 2025, while UK insurance risks increased 5% to 9.73 mn.
Motor remained the largest contributor, generating £456.9 mn of profit before tax during the first half. Household insurance contributed £24.9 mn, while travel and pet generated £3.2 mn.
The Welsh Government said it was disappointed by Admiral’s redundancy announcement and plans to meet the company to discuss the reasons behind the decision. Officials also intend to coordinate employment support through ReAct+, Careers Wales, the Department for Work and Pensions and local authority employment services.
For Wales, the scale of the restructuring carries additional weight because Admiral is headquartered in Cardiff and remains the country’s only FTSE 100 company. Its operations represent a substantial source of financial-services employment in both Cardiff and Swansea.
Admiral hasn’t yet disclosed which departments will bear most of the reductions. The consultation process will determine the final number of affected roles, voluntary departures and redeployment opportunities before the insurer completes the restructuring.
