There will be an estimated 100 job losses affecting all levels of staff, from partners to junior roles, in the advisory corporate finance arm of the business, which employs around 2,000 people. The redundancy programme will affect 5% of staff in the financial advisory division.

Deloitte will try to find alternative roles for those impacted within the firm where possible, and stressed that the cuts would not affect staff in other parts of the business at this time.

The decline in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) related advisory work at Deloitte reflects a global slowdown in deals activity, affecting all the Big Four firms as well as the wider financial sector, which has seen significant job cuts in the last six months.

Deloitte plans to restructure part of its advisory business in response to the sharp slowdown in demand. This will see the firm focus on larger client deals in line with the wider multi-disciplinary focus of the business, but stressed that they remained ‘committed to serving the M&A market in the UK and globally’.

A spokesperson from Deloitte UK said: ‘We are considering restructuring parts of our advisory corporate finance business. This is in order to concentrate on larger, sector-focused M&A activity. As a consequence, we are proposing to close some parts of that business.  

‘We will consult on this with people in these teams over the coming weeks. This will undoubtedly be an unsettling time for those affected and we will be doing everything we can to support them.’

The latest redundancy round follows 700 job cuts announced last September.

Deloitte is the UK’s second largest professional services firm with UK fee income of £4.8bn for FY23, up 13% year on year. Partners earned £1.06m over the period, while there were 6,800 new hires. In total Deloitte has over 20,000 staff.

The traditional accounting services lines and consulting are growing at double digit pace, with 20% growth in audit and assurance, while consulting grew by 16% in FY23.

At the results, the firm warned that deals and advisory work was hit in the second half, reporting only 9% growth compared with other service lines, amid an increased caution among clients on spending and a slowdown in the M&A market.

Reflecting tougher trading conditions in the second half of the year, Deloitte made around 700 job cuts across the firm last autumn following consultation.

At the time, Richard Houston, Deloitte senior partner and CEO, said: ‘Looking ahead, the UK faces a challenging year, with ongoing cost of living concerns, slow economic growth, rising geopolitical tensions and the climate crisis. Markets are expected to remain challenging and we have adjusted our plans in response.’