Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning to cut over 1,000 contract-agency jobs amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pressures. The UK’s largest automotive manufacturer, which had earlier on Friday reported a 30.9 percent drop in sales in the aftermath of the pandemic related lockdown, said the cuts were part of its transformation program to improve operational efficiencies.

“Through its ongoing transformation programme, Jaguar Land Rover is taking action to optimize performance and achieve further operational efficiencies to enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business,” a company statement said.

“Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has taken the difficult decision to reduce the number of contract-agency employees in its manufacturing plants over the coming months,” it added.

The jobs are expected to be cut from across the business' UK manufacturing sites, a process that will begin at the end of July and last through the year.

“It is another devastating blow for our auto sector and the communities that rely on them for jobs,” the Unite trade union said.

“We urge the government to get on with delivering the urgently needed sector support package, as other countries such as France and Germany have done so that we can stem the tide of redundancies,” it said.