Slater and Gordon to shrink UK business after posting £494 million loss

Slater and Gordon is to close a number of its offices in the UK and reduce its employee headcount after posting a £494 million loss in the second half of 2015.

The Australian firm, which bought Quindell’s legal services division last year, partly blamed the loss on the underperformance of its UK noise-induced hearing loss case book. Slater and Gordon bought the cases from Quindell. It also said that the deployment of a new case management IT system had affected productivity.

As a result of its results, it will now undergo a restructure of its UK business which will see it close offices and make staff redundant. In a report to the Australian Stock Exchange, it said that it intended to reorganise its operation into three specialised legal services divisions dealing with fast track PI claims, serious PI claims, and general law services.

Andrew Grech, the firm’s managing director, who has had a resignation offer turned down by the board, said that the decline in business performance in the UK was of “serious concern”.

“We will therefore be taking a number of necessary and significant steps to improve our operational performance of both the UK business and the broader Slater and Gordon group,” he said.

“We have made some tough but necessary decisions to establish a clear pathway for the future.”

He added that the changes would ensure that the UK business was sustainable over the long-term and that the board was convinced that it would continue to produce returns for shareholders.

Pictured: Andrew Grech and Neil Kinsella, Slater and Gordon’s UK chairman, in happier times

Mark Dugdale