Stop The PA Media Cuts

  • 09 May 2025

The NUJ has slammed proposals by PA Media to place 74 members in its content team at risk of redundancy, with up to 25 posts cut across the UK.

Journalists at PA Media are proud of their work and their ability to produce trusted journalism at the company they work hard for. Proposed cuts are strongly opposed by the NUJ for the detrimental impact they will have on limiting access to accurate, valued journalism used to inform decision making, on important issues including politics. 

PA Media provides a newswire service, acting as a news agency to commercial clients who pay a fee to access news then used on outlets. This means PA's journalism is widely accessed. 

NUJ concerns

Parliamentary coverage is under threat

In London, PA’s parliamentary reporters provide legislative updates through two teams. By ensuring journalists have separate remits across the House of Commons and House of Lords, updates on the organisation’s Newswire service are accurate, trusted and hugely valued by outlets who need not rely on Hansard uploads, which are not available immediately after debates.

Reporting on debates allows the public to remain informed on issues that impact their decision making. This is crucial for democratic participation.

In Scotland, political journalists provide essential coverage of activity in Holyrood, yet PA Media is planning to cull two posts and change job specifications in other roles. For the first time there will no longer be an editor in Scotland, instead an editor based in Ireland will have responsibility for three countries - one national administration and two devolved administrations.
Under the company’s proposals, the number of  dedicated political journalists covering Holyrood will be halved. 

The NUJ strongly opposes this proposal and parliamentarians have began to express their alarm.

Torcuil Crichton MP raised his concerns in Prime Minister’s questions on 7 May. “No amount of AI will replace the human eyes in the gallery” he said. Watch his question to Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, below.  

John Swinney MSP, Scotland first minister, recognised the importance of the role played by PA Media in the reporting of events and political discourse within Scotland. He said "PA staff are an integral part of the authoritative and reliable reporting of events and political engagement."

Swinney has also written to PA Media over the proposed cuts, urging reconsideration of proposals. 

 

Also impacted by PA Media's proposed cuts is the Pictures team, whose journalism plays a crucial role in helping shape reporting on wide-ranging topics reported by PA. The Pictures department has for decades been a central pillar of PA’s identity and commercial success. Its ability to rapidly deliver high-quality, well-captioned images has long been a defining feature of the Wire service and a key differentiator in a competitive media marketplace. 

What is the NUJ asking for?

The union is shocked at the unfair redundancy package being offered to journalists at risk of losing their jobs. PA Media is offering 25% above statutory redundancy rates plus £1000 ex-gratia, despite previously offering its journalists double the statutory redundancy rate, as recently as 2020.

This month, press gazette published its Media Rich List where £1,114,000 was recorded as paid to the highest paid director in 2023 based on the annual report. The NUJ believes PA must reconsider the impact of proposed cuts on public interest journalism and democratic participation. We are urging the company’s leadership to listen to concerns of their workforce, of the union and of parliamentarians.

As we continue to engage in good faith with the company, we are seeking an improved redundancy package that fairly reflects the valuable contributions of journalists at the company.

The NUJ has written to PA seeking an extension to the minimum timeframe of the collective consultation process to allow sufficient time for meaningful engagement on alternative proposals in an attempt to save journalists’ jobs.  

Solidarity 

The FT NUJ chapel adds its voice to those of fellow NUJ members, trade unionists and MPs in condemning management at PA for pushing ahead with plans to cut 25 jobs while providing scant evidence of the financial case for this. The PA chapel notes that PA Media Group recently celebrated record revenues and shareholder dividends of £7.5m.

We note that these job cuts will damage the quality and quantity of PA output and a reduction in the numbers of dedicated political reports will hurt the day to day reporting on Government, with wider implications for UK democracy.

As members of the PA NUJ chapel consult over next steps that could escalate to industrial action, we send our full support and solidarity to journalists there.

Send a statement from your chapel in solidarity to [email protected]

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