British Telecommunications Plc yesterday confirmed that it plans to accelerate the slimming of its workforce, setting a figure of 20,000 to 24,000 as its target for the 1992-93 financial year, a small drop on the widely-canvassed figure of 25,000: the Evening Standard estimates that it will have to take charges of nearly UKP1,000m to cover the cost, and some observers have suggested that the speed-up is intended to reduce bottom line profits at a time when an incoming Labour government might be seeking to reduce the company’s overall return.
