Manchester jobs among 300 redundancies at supermarket chain

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is axing 300 jobs at its store support centres, including roles in Manchester.

It plans to outsource the roles, in food commercial, finance, as well as HR, to Accenture.

Sites affected are in Manchester, Holborn in London, and Ansty in Warwickshire. There is no breakdown of job losses per office.

The announcement follows news at the beginning of March that the group is to close store-based cafés, coffee bars and hot food operations, putting 2,250 jobs at risk.

Referring to the 300 redundancies, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson told trade publication Retail Week: “We are focused on our plans to put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s.

“To achieve this, we are becoming a more simple, nimble and efficient business so that we can reinvest in what matters most to customers – low prices, exciting new products and convenient ways to shop.”

They added: “We are talking to a small proportion of our store support centre colleagues about some changes we are proposing to the way we work. Colleagues affected will enter into a consultation process and we are supporting them through this in any way we can.

“This includes exploring alternative roles within Sainsbury’s, as well as providing independent support with job opportunities elsewhere as part of a redundancy package which far exceeds statutory requirements.”

New CEO Simon Roberts embarked on a major restructuring at Sainsbury’s in November which led to the closure of Argos shops and in-store meat, fish and deli counters.

Sainsbury’s is Britain’s second biggest supermarket group, behind Tesco.