Royal London Taps IBM for IT Outsourcing Amid Looming Redundancies
AI-generated image · US National Wire · Based on a photo by Saad Faruque from Bangalore, India (CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
The insurance and pensions giant plans to shift technology operations to India, sparking employee backlash over lost knowledge and corporate values.
Royal London is planning a significant overhaul of its IT operations through a strategic partnership with IBM, a move that sources tell The Register will result in hundreds of job cuts and the relocation of work to India.
According to The Register, Chief Technology Officer James Sandell informed IT staff in September that the company would outsource a substantial portion of its technology operations. While Royal London has not confirmed the exact number of roles at risk, a Glassdoor review from October 6 claims hundreds of positions in the technology operations division are being eliminated. Redundancies are expected to occur by the end of December.
In a statement to The Register, a Royal London spokesperson said the partnership with IBM provides access to "specialist capability, scale and experience," while noting the company remains accountable for regulatory requirements and service delivery.
Internal dissent has surfaced via Glassdoor, where employees have criticized the move. One reviewer on October 12 argued that sudden outsourcing contradicts the company's mutual values, while another on October 20 noted this follows a previous decision to move servicing jobs to South Africa. A reviewer on October 6 warned that a "vast amount of knowledge" is being lost due to previous recruitment freezes and high workloads.
These cuts come as Royal London reports financial growth. Chief Executive Barry O'Dwyer previously highlighted a £199 million ProfitShare distribution to customers in April, and the company reported an adjusted group operating profit of £187 million for the first half of 2026, a 13 percent increase year-on-year.