Co-op confirms head office job cuts

THE Co-operative Group has confirmed its looking set to shed head office jobs, with more than 250 positions reportedly under threat.

Staff likely to be affected attended meetings in Manchester with senior managers from the mutual organisation today.

In a statement the mutual said management and administrative staff had been briefed on a restructuring of its food business in order to “provide a better service to customers, while at the same time improving cost effectiveness”.

It added: “Regrettably this will result in a number of redundancies, mainly at its Manchester head office.  Staff in its national network of stores and depots are not affected.”

A spokesman said the consultation process is at an early stage and it was not possible to quantify the final impact on staff.

Some staff  affected will have the opportunity to apply for roles in the new structure and others would be offered voluntary redundancy.

The spokesman added: “Everything possible would be done to support employees, including identifying potential roles in other group businesses and assistance in finding other employment at what was recognised to be a difficult time for them.”
 
In a letter to staff last month, acting chief executive of food Sean Toal said: “In common with other UK food retailers, we are continuing to face very extreme challenges in a market where customers are spending less.

“It is no exaggeration to say that our business is experiencing some of the its toughest trading conditions in recent history and this is impacting on our financial performance.”