The UK Competition and Markets Authority is planning to cut staff numbers by close to 10 per cent following a “budgeting error”, as the agency reels from the ousting of its chair by the government.
Chief executive Sarah Cardell told staff at a town-hall meeting in December that the CMA was starting a voluntary exit scheme to cut staff numbers by about 100 because of an overspend, according to people familiar with the matter.
Cardell referred to the overspend as a “budgeting error”, the people said. The CMA has a total headcount of nearly 1,200 and its budget from the Treasury for this year is £139mn.
At another town hall meeting on Monday, Cardell said certain areas of the agency, such as mergers and the new digital markets unit, would be protected from the cuts, the people said.
The watchdog was seeking to avoid forced job cuts by starting with voluntary departures, one of the people added.
The cuts come as the regulator has found itself in the Labour government’s crosshairs, with CMA chair Marcus Bokkerink ousted this week by ministers after complaints from business about the regulator.
Ministers wanted to send a signal to the CMA and other independent regulators that the government wanted to prioritise growth, according to officials.
Bokkerink’s exit has led antitrust lawyers and lobbyists to question whether the CMA will now take a softer approach towards Big Tech. Bokkerink has been replaced in the interim by former Amazon UK head Doug Gurr.
In a staff meeting on Thursday, Cardell sought to reassure employees that they did not need to be concerned about Bokkerink’s departure and that the government had given assurances of its confidence in the agency, one person said.
While the staff exit scheme was in train before Bokkerink’s ousting, some employees are concerned that in light of the government’s frustration with the agency there could be further staff reductions.
Staff numbers at the antitrust regulator have grown considerably over the past eight years from about 600 staff in 2017 to 1,185 as of October 2024, according to the most recent disclosure.
The CMA has expanded its presence from London to a number of hubs across the UK. Part of the growth is down to its suite of powers under the new digital markets regime, which came into effect this month, and led to the creation of the digital markets unit at the agency to enforce it.
Under the new regime, the CMA will designate a number of Big Tech companies with a large presence in certain digital markets as having “strategic market status” and force them to abide by certain conduct rules.
Google and Apple became the first companies this month to face investigations to determine if they should be handed the status.
The CMA said: “This is an historic budget issue which has been addressed swiftly and appropriately. The CMA is fully focused on its priorities for the coming year including working with the government and the new interim chair to help deliver growth.”
The Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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