Centrica, the owner of British Gas, announced with its half-year results on July 23, 2026 that it will cut about 1,300 jobs over two years. Around 500 are contact-center roles across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leicester, Stockport and Leeds, with roughly 800 more positions going elsewhere in the business, including outsourced offshore roles. The reductions equal about 14% of Centrica's customer operations workforce.
The company is spending £600 million on an AI-focused overhaul of customer service and says inbound contact volumes have fallen 31% since 2023 as customers shift to the app. The cuts landed alongside an 18% drop in first-half adjusted profit, to £737 million, and shares fell more than 4% on the day even as Centrica raised its dividend 9%.