Bloodbath on Britain’s High Streets: Marks and Spencer to Shed Hundreds of Jobs

Marks & Spencer is expected to announce hundreds of job cuts this week in the first wave of a cull that will affect thousands of retail workers.

Second Wave of Massive Retail Job Cuts Expected this Week

The high street retail giant will begin announcing redundancy plans within days, joining the likes of the John Lewis Partnership, Boots, and Debenhams in what has rapidly become a bloodbath on Britain’s high streets. 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 damaging impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK taxpayer helps out

It will make the UK’s most famous retailer the latest chain to have taken taxpayers’ money through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, only to subsequently announce significant numbers of redundancies. 27,000 M&S employees – out of a total of 78,000 – were furloughed under the government’s programme to discourage companies from laying off workers.

The initial phase of the “cull” will see the first cuts to M&S’s 78,000-strong workforce since most of its shops were temporarily shut at the beginning of the lockdown. Further job losses are then likely to come after bosses review costs 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.

More high street stores to announce job losses this week

More job losses are expected later this week after John Lewis and Boots also shed staff -Thousands more have gone at Cath Kidston, Laura Ashley, and Accessorize.

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