London: Tata Steel Europe has begun consultations with the European Works Council (EWC) on restructuring plans for its business, which would include up to 3,000 job losses — 1,000 of which will be in the UK. The Indian steel major announced the job cuts last week as part of a wider transformation programme as it blamed ongoing losses and continued global headwinds faced by the steel industry.

"As part of the comprehensive set of proposals, Tata Steel Europe intends to lower employment costs," the firm said in a statement on Wednesday. "This is expected to lead to an estimated reduction in employee numbers of up to 3,000, about two-thirds of which would be management and office-based roles. Up to 1,600 are expected in the Netherlands, 1,000 in the UK and 350 elsewhere," it said.