500 jobs at risk as New Look plans to axe night shift

Fashion retailer New Look is looking to shed hundred of jobs as it changes working hours at its distribution centre.

The Weymouth-headquartered firm will cut the night shift at its site in Newcastle-under-Lyme following an increase in online trading.

The move will affect 503 roles out of its 1,200 staff, but the retailer hopes to create 300 jobs during the day shift. It has now begun a consultation period, with redundancies expected to take effect from mid-May.

A New Look spokesperson said: “With this shift, it has become increasingly clear that the processes at the distribution centre no longer suit our operational needs

“Therefore, we are proposing a necessary change to working hours in the distribution centre, including the removal of the night shift. Regrettably, we expect this will result in a number of redundancies at the site.

“We are focusing on supporting our affected colleagues at this time and we expect to be able to offer a considerable number of these individuals new roles on the day shift.”

The news has come just a day after Wilko announced it was shedding 400 jobs in a bid to save money.

New Look recently announced it is shutting around seven stores, although it said this was part of normal business planning,

Wilko said the cost cutting was part of a turnaround programme to “drive Wilko forward”.

Mark Jackson, chief executive at Wilko, said: “As part of this we quickly identified significant changes to the Wilko operating model to enable us to stabilise the business, and then thrive again.

“This includes some planned and considered changes to our management structure at both our stores and head office.

“We can’t comment on the numbers of team members affected as conversations are still ongoing, but it goes without saying, we’re fully supporting any affected individuals.”