Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is reeling from the government's ouster of its chairman, with plans to cut its staff by nearly 10 per cent following “budgeting errors”.
According to people familiar with the matter, CEO Sara Cardel told staff at a town hall meeting in December that CMA had begun a voluntary retirement plan to cut about 100 staff members due to overspending. He said he was there.
Mr. Cardel called the overspending a “budget error,” according to people familiar with the matter. The CMA has a total staff of around 1,200 people and a budget of £139 million from the Treasury this financial year.
Cardel said in another town hall meeting Monday that certain areas within the agency, including mergers and the new Digital Markets division, would be protected from cuts, according to people familiar with the matter.
One of the people added that the watchdog is trying to avoid forced job cuts by starting with voluntary redundancies.
The job cuts come as the regulator finds itself in the crosshairs of the Labor government, with CMA chairman Markus Bockelink being sacked by ministers this week following complaints from businesses against the regulator. It was done.
Officials said ministers wanted to send a signal to the CMA and other independent regulators that the government wanted to prioritize growth.
Bockelink's departure has left antitrust lawyers and lobbyists wondering whether the CMA will take a softer approach to Big Tech in the future. Bockelink has been replaced on an interim basis by former Amazon UK chief Doug Garr.
At Thursday's staff meeting, Mr. Cardel sought to reassure staffers there was no need to worry about Mr. Bockelink's departure and that the government was committed to its confidence in the agency, one of the people said.
Plans for staff retirement were in the works before Bockelink's ouster, but some staff fear further cuts could be made in light of government dissatisfaction with the agency.
The antitrust regulator's staff numbers have increased significantly over the past eight years, from about 600 in 2017 to 1,185 as of October 2024, according to the latest disclosures.
CMA has expanded its presence from London to many locations across the UK. Part of the growth is due to a range of powers under the new Digital Markets Regime, which came into force this month and led to the creation of the Digital Markets Department to enforce the regime.
Under the new regime, the CMA will designate a number of big tech companies with a significant presence in certain digital markets as having a “strategic market position”, forcing them to adhere to certain rules of conduct.
Google and Apple this month became the first companies to be investigated to determine whether the positions should be handed over.
The CMA said: 'This is a historic budget issue that has been swiftly and appropriately addressed. I am putting all my effort into it.”
The Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment.
