Brookfield Bought Just Group in April. It Has Cut Jobs Twice Since, and the Second Round Is Not Finished.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
In short. Just Group, the Reigate-based retirement income and pensions specialist, opened a consultation on 29 September 2026 covering about 500 employees, expected to result in the loss of more than 300 jobs [1]. It is the second redundancy round since Brookfield Asset Management's 2.4 billion pound take-private deal closed on 1 April 2026: around 150 roles went in May. If the new figure holds once consultation ends, the two rounds together would run to roughly 30 per cent of the company's workforce [1]; nothing in this round has happened yet. The ledger logs a loss of 300, graded ANNOUNCED, status proposed, region South East, ai_cited: not-raised.
The announcement. Just Group told around 500 staff on 29 September 2026 that they were entering consultation, with more than 300 jobs expected to go [1]. It is the second cut since Brookfield's buyout closed: about 150 roles were cut in May, and if the new figure holds once consultation ends, the two rounds together would run to roughly 30 per cent of the company's workforce, which stood at more than 1,300 before Brookfield's deal [1] [2]. Brookfield's stated intent is for Just Group to concentrate on growing its core bulk annuity insurance business rather than its retail annuity arm, and the company is exiting its direct-to-consumer business entirely [1] [3].
How the ledger logs it
A loss of 300, graded ANNOUNCED, status proposed. The figure comes from trade press reporting the company's own statement to staff at the point consultation opened, not from a Gazette notice or a filed disclosure, and the article's own wording is "more than 300," so this row logs the conservative reading rather than rounding up. Consultation was still open when this row was logged, so nothing here is a concluded redundancy figure yet; if a final number is confirmed, the row will be updated in place rather than duplicated. Region is South East, where Just Group's Reigate head office sits. AI is not mentioned anywhere in the company's account of either redundancy round, so ai_cited is logged as not-raised.
What Brookfield says caused it
The stated reason is strategic refocusing, not cost per employee or technology. Brookfield's 2.4 billion pound deal for Just Group closed on 1 April 2026, with Pretty Sagoo installed as interim chief executive and Sir Nigel Wilson as independent chair [2]. Even before the first redundancy round, Brookfield had already warned that its review of the business "may result in the implementation of cost-management measures, which could include headcount reductions materially beyond those described" when the deal was first announced [2]. The company has since confirmed it will exit its direct-to-consumer retail annuity business altogether, concentrating instead on the bulk annuity side, where it writes pension-scheme buyout and buy-in deals for corporate clients rather than selling products to individual savers [3]. Nothing in any account of either round attributes the cuts to AI or automation; the story Brookfield is telling is about which business lines it wants Just Group to be in, not how many people it takes to run them.
What happens next in this ledger
A buyout that was flagged as carrying only "limited" job losses when it was announced has now run two redundancy rounds in six months, each larger than the warning that preceded it, and the direct-to-consumer exit that triggered the second round is itself still being wound down. Worth checking again: whether a third round follows once that exit completes, whether the roughly 30 per cent reduction holds as the final figure or grows further, and whether Brookfield's pattern here, cut first and describe the strategy afterwards, shows up at any of its other UK insurance holdings.
Sources
- Great Driffield Radio, "Pensions firm Just axes quarter of workforce months after takeover," 29 September 2026. https://greatdriffieldradio.co.uk/business/pensions-firm-just-axes-quarter-of-workforce-months-after-takeover/
- Insurance Business UK, "Just Group warns of deeper job cuts after Brookfield takeover," 27 April 2026. https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/uk/news/breaking-news/just-group-warns-of-deeper-job-cuts-after-brookfield-takeover-573093.aspx
- Professional Pensions, "Just Group to exit direct-to-consumer business following Brookfield acquisition," 24 April 2026. https://www.professionalpensions.com/news/4528791/group-exit-direct-consumer-business-following-brookfield-acquisition