McDonald’s UK arm has cut its donations to some charities despite profits soaring more than 80% last year as it shed almost 2,000 jobs, according to its latest accounts.
Documents newly filed at Companies House for the fast food chain’s British business in 2024 show it gave £529,000 to Children in Need – reduced from £952,000 the previous year – and handed £744,000 to Ronald McDonald House charities, down from £779,000.
It reduced the headcount at its directly operated business to 24,375 from 26,384 – with all reductions from restaurants and operations rather than head office.
McDonald’s has more than 1,400 sites in the UK and Ireland, with a large proportion operated by franchisees who employ their own staff – more than 140,000 people. Just over half of sales reported by the UK arm came via franchisees. It was not made clear in the accounts if some workers who left McDonald’s wholly owned outlets were transferred to franchise partners.
The UK business said it had paid an £83m dividend to its parent group in 2024, up from zero a year before, as pre-tax profits rose to £120m despite a slight fall in sales to £1.82bn.
The details of reduced staffing at McDonald’s come after the group said its high street estate “continues to be impacted by challenging retail footfall”.
A statement from the board included in the accounts said an improvement in operating profits had been “predominantly driven by savings in administrative expenses”, but that improvement had been slowed “by continued inflationary pressures impacting food, paper and utility costs on the company operated estate”.
The business, which has been criticised for its heavy use of zero-hours contracts, which are to be restricted under new government measures, said it offers staff “the choice between guaranteed hours and flexible contracts”.
After reports of harassment of UK staff on zero-hours contracts, McDonald’s said in its accounts it was recruiting a “head of safeguarding” and had set up an investigations handling unit to follow up claims of abuse.
In January, the chief executive of McDonald’s told MPs that 29 people had been dismissed in the past year after allegations of sexual harassment. The UK boss of the fast food chain, Alistair Macrow, said the company had been alerted to 75 allegations of sexual harassment over the last 12 months, 47 of which had been upheld with disciplinary action taken and 29 of which resulted in people being dismissed.
At the time a spokesperson for the group said: “Any incident of misconduct and harassment is unacceptable and subject to rapid and thorough investigation and action.”
McDonald’s UK was approached for comment.