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The over 25,000-employee firm, which provides audit, consulting, and tax services, has offered voluntary redundancy to over 100 middle-ranking employees, according to sources familiar with the matter. This latest round of redundancies began in the new year and targets the well-paid staff below the partner level.

Additionally, around 100 junior consultants are facing a second delay to their promotions. Typically, graduates are promoted from associate to senior associate after two years on the scheme, receiving a pay rise. However, the current cohort will have to wait an extra six months, as their predecessors did last year. The firm says this staggers promotions to avoid a large group being promoted simultaneously, The Times reports.

These measures are part of a broader cost-cutting drive by PwC’s chief Marco Amitrano amid a sector-wide downturn in demand for consulting services. Post-pandemic, firms had been paying consultants for a wide range of services, from enabling remote work to strengthening supply chains. Rising inflation has led businesses to cut back on consulting spending, and a shortage of stock market listings – which PwC often advises on – has further reduced work.

The Big Four – PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, and EY – have collectively shed thousands of jobs in the past two years. PwC’s partner profits also fell last year by about 5%, to an average of £862,000.

Mr Amitrano, elected last year on a mandate to make the firm “fitter,” has already shed about 76 partners, partly through encouraging early retirement. He has also created a new managing director role for senior employees outside the partnership.

Looking ahead, Mr Amitrano is steering PwC towards more lucrative areas, such as artificial intelligence and technology advisory, creating a standalone unit to focus on this area.

Despite the downturn, PwC’s revenues grew by 9% last year, reaching £6.3 billion, although this was down from 16% growth in 2023. Recent revenue growth has been boosted in part by its expanding Middle Eastern arm, which is incorporated with the UK business.