City firm Ashurst has cut more roles from its London office as the scaling back of business support jobs across the City continues.

In a statement this week the firm said ‘a small number’ of roles will be cut. Unlike a previous redundancy round in June last year, in which 54 roles were axed, Ashurst will not be consulting on the latest plans.

The Gazette understands fewer than ten employees are affected which removes the need to formally consult. Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, organisations making more than 20 people redundant are obliged to consult on the plans – there is no set rule for when fewer than 20 people are at risk.

The firm intends the affected roles to be carried out by those in a newly-created role of ‘practice executive’, employees at its Glasgow office, and by a separate support function.

A spokesperson told the Gazette: ‘Over the last few years, we have been focused on how we best deliver and transform business services, as we did last year when we created a more advanced practice executive role and local service hubs.

‘Now that this is embedded, we have continued to review processes and responsibilities in order to deliver services more effectively and efficiently. Certain back office roles will now be undertaken by the hub, practice executives or from our Glasgow office and in consequence of this, a very small number of roles in London have been made redundant. We continue to support affected staff through this process.’

Taylor Wessing and Baker McKenzie have also announced they intend to cut support jobs in London in the last year.