Marks & Spencer is set to axe hundreds of staff within days in the first wave of a cull that will hit thousands of workers.
The announcement expected later this week comes after John Lewis and Boots have already shed thousands of staff in the wake of the pandemic.
Hundreds of job losses are expected as part of an ongoing restructuring plan which could ultimately see thousands of positions go.
Hundreds of job losses are expected at M&S as part of an ongoing restructuring plan which could ultimately see thousands of positions go. Pictured is a store in Manchester
The strategy, dubbed ‘never the same again’ by M&S at its annual results in May, is expected to bring about a complete overhaul in the business in the coming months as it adapts to the long-term impact of the pandemic.
Sources close to the plans told Sky News that several thousand jobs were expected to be lost over the coming months as chief executive Steve Rowe pushes through the company’s restructuring programme.
The initial phase will see the first cuts to M&S’s 78,000-strong workforce since most of its shops were temporarily shut at the start of lockdown.
Later job losses are then likely to come after a review of costs by bosses in different parts of the company such as retail and property, clothing and home, and food and international. The total numbers axed are likely to amount to several thousand, it was reported.
Earlier this month, Boots axed 4,000 jobs and closed 48 stores, citing the ‘significant impact’ of Covid-19. Meanwhile John Lewis shut eight large stores, putting 1,300 employees at risk.
Burger King also announced it would shutter one in ten outlets, jeopardising 1,600 positions.
And around 5,000 employees have gone at Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley, Harveys furniture store, Monsoon, Accessorize and Harrods.
Some 27,000 M&S employees were furloughed under the Government’s job retention scheme, which was designed to prevent mass lay-offs.
Experts have warned that a slew of store closures at John Lewis (pictured) and Boots are ‘just the start’
In 2018, M&S announced plans to close up to 120 of its full-line clothing stores, more than half of which have now been shut. It now has just under 300 clothing and home shops in the UK.
M&S has indicated that it will not pay shareholders a dividend for this year, while Mr Rowe has agreed to a pay freeze and, as in the last financial year, will not take an annual bonus.
An M&S spokesperson said: ‘We don’t comment on speculation and, if and when we have an announcement to make, our colleagues will be the first to know.’
Pizza Express was to latest high street chain to reveal it was struggling, as it plans to close around 75 of its 470 UK restaurants, reports last week suggested.
The branches are facing closure as part of a financial restructuring of the business, which is one of Britain’s biggest restaurant operators.
The exact number of branches being closed is yet to be confirmed and could depend on the progress of talks with landlords, set to start next week.
One source told Sky News the number could be higher or lower than 75, but is unlikely to be more than 20 per cent of the restaurant’s UK outlets.
That means as many 94 sites could be closed, impacting hundreds of jobs, with Pizza Express employing 8,000 workers in the UK.
More than 250,000 High Street jobs could be axed in total as Britons move to shopping online during the coronavirus crisis.
As many as 484 hopefuls applied for two £9-an-hour positions at the Alexandra pub in Wimbledon, southwest London
Retail expert Richard Hyman told The Sun: ‘If you think there are 9.5million people on furlough, 250,000 redundancies is quite a reasonable number.
‘Pre-pandemic online sales accounted for 30 per cent of non-food sales. That will rise to 40 per cent, which means hundreds of thousands of job losses.
‘Lockdown has been the catalyst, not the cause. Big firms like John Lewis have needed to shut stores for years.’
Yesterday, hundreds of people scrambled to work at two pub jobs in a sign of the growing lack of vacancies.
As many as 484 hopefuls applied for two £9-an-hour positions at the Alexandra pub in Wimbledon, southwest London.
General manager Mick Dore posted an advert for the roles on Twitter and was staggered by the response.
He later wrote: ‘I don’t want to alarm anyone about the economy or anything, but I advertised two bar jobs at 4.30 on Thursday. We’ve had well over 400 applicants. Gulp.’
The news is reflected across the country, with bosses seeing a huge influx of applicants for entry-level jobs that would usually be unpopular.
It comes after Office For National Statistics figures last week showed workers fell by 74,000 last month, with 649,000 gone since lockdown was imposed in March.