Business

Furlough incentive falls on deaf ears as Boots announces 4,000 jobs will go

Boots' store on Donegall Place in Belfast city centre.
Boots' store on Donegall Place in Belfast city centre. Boots' store on Donegall Place in Belfast city centre.

DOZENS more jobs are under threat at Boots and Burger King outlets in the north as major high street employers signalled plans to shed thousands of jobs on Thursday.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £1,000-a-head carrot for employers to keep furloughed workers until January appeared to fall on deaf ears, with Boots stating it will shed 4,000 jobs, while Burger King’s UK boss suggesting up to 1,600 jobs could go.

Continuing the grim announcements, John Lewis said 1,300 jobs could go as it axes eight stores.

It came less than 24 hours after the Chancellor presented his incentive geared at lessening the scale of the expected wave of redundancies over the coming months, as the Job Retention Scheme is wound down.

The Job Retention Bonus will pay £1,000 for every furloughed worker still employed as of January 31 2021.

But within hours of that announcement, Burger King’s UK chief executive Alasdair Murdoch told the BBC that hundreds of jobs could be lost across its operation.

Only about 370 of the restaurant chain's 530 UK stores have reopened since the start of the lockdown.

"We don't want to lose any (jobs),” said Mr Murdoch. “We try very hard not to, but one's got to assume somewhere between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the restaurants might not be able to survive.

"It's not just us - I think this applies to everyone out there in our industry."

High street pharmacy chain Boots said on Thursday that it will have to cut around seven per cent of its workforce to mitigate the "significant impact" of Covid-19.

The company said it will particularly affect staff in its Nottingham support office, but warned that deputy and assistant manager, beauty adviser and customer adviser roles across its stores would also be affected.

The restructuring will also result in the closure of 48 Boots Opticians stores.

It comes after retail sales tumbled by 48 per cent over the past three months in the face of the pandemic, despite Boots keeping swathes of its stores open to customers.

Meanwhile, its opticians business saw sales dive by 72 per cent compared to the same quarter last year as people stayed at home.

Boots said that the cuts represent an "acceleration" of its transformation plans to improve profitably across the business.

Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK, said: "The proposals announced today are decisive actions to accelerate our transformation plan, allow Boots to continue its vital role as part of the UK health system, and ensure profitable long-term growth.

"I am so very grateful to all our colleagues for their dedication during the last few challenging months.

"They have stepped forward to support their communities, our customers and the NHS during this time, and I am extremely proud to be serving alongside them."

"In doing this, we are building a stronger and more modern Boots for our customers, patients and colleagues.

"We recognise that today's proposals will be very difficult for the remarkable people who make up the heart of our business, and we will do everything in our power to provide the fullest support during this time."