KPMG tech cuts come with a severance sum some staff call insulting

AI, Cyber, SAP and Testing teams caught in latest reshaping of Big Four consultancy's Advisory arm

KPMG UK is laying off staff from the Tech and Data areas of its Advisory division and offering severance terms that one affected employee described as "insulting and disgraceful."

The job cuts, affecting about 4 percent of the Advisory staff, were announced internally in July. Affected workers in the AI, Cyber, SAP, and Testing teams are scheduled to leave the consulting business next month. Insiders have now shared with The Register details of the payments offered to those set to depart.

The proposed redundancy package, subject to consultation and the employee signing a settlement agreement, combines statutory redundancy pay with several enhancements. The document helpfully advises staff to divide their annual salary by 52 to calculate their weekly pay.

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The number of weeks to which each employee is entitled depends on their age during each full year of service: half a week's pay for each year worked while under 22, one week's pay for each year worked from age 22 to 40, and 1.5 weeks' pay for each year worked from age 41.

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"If you turned 41 while working at KPMG, the higher rate of 1.5 weeks' pay only applies to the full year of service completed after you turned 41," KPMG's missive states.

"Redundancy pay is calculated based on the individual's number of years' service (up to a maximum of 20 years' service). If you've been at KPMG for more than 20 years, your most recent 20 years of service are considered when determining the number of weeks' pay you will be entitled to."

KPMG's enhancements remove the statutory weekly pay cap of £751 and count partial years of service exceeding six months. Regardless of their length of service, staff are guaranteed either £1,250 plus statutory redundancy pay or eight weeks' pay inclusive of statutory redundancy pay, whichever is higher.

The agreement also provides pay in lieu of notice, including employer pension contributions and, where applicable, a car allowance, according to the document.

The document explaining the package includes an illustration of three employees alongside examples of the terms they could receive. Two of the illustrated employees appear delighted.

The reaction among actual employees was less cheerful. One affected worker suspected that "protecting the profit pot for the equity partners is what is driving this re-org mostly." KPMG's UK partners received an average of £880,000 in the year to September 2025.

"The payout scale is insulting and disgraceful," one affected employee told The Register.

A KPMG spokesperson said: "As our market evolves, we are adapting where we are focusing and how we are set up to make sure we have the right skills in place to best serve our clients. To respond to these market dynamics combined with low levels of attrition, we are proposing reductions in some of our advisory client-facing teams and will support our colleagues throughout this process."

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The latest cuts come six months after KPMG eliminated 600 roles across its UK organization, including around 120 in Advisory.

"The firm's consulting business has been under pressure for some time as market demand has remained subdued," said Duncan Aitchison, an analyst at TechMarketView, who estimated that the practice's revenue fell 9 percent between fiscal 2024 and 2025.

"KPMG is not the only Big Four firm taking action to reshape its consulting business. In April 2026, PwC UK unveiled plans to bring together two of its three advisory businesses as part of a global effort to respond to the disruptions to the consulting industry caused by AI." ®