Fears for Sheffield workers as Marks & Spencer announce 950 UK jobs at risk

It says 950 jobs are at risk as part of plans to reduce store management and head office roles.

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M&S said it has now started collective consultation with employee representatives and has set out plans to first offer voluntary redundancy to affected staff.

It said the cuts are set to impact roles in the company's head office, property and store management areas.

The likes of John Lewis, Boots and Debenhams have previously announced job losses as the retail sector struggles to recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. Boots earlier this month announced plans to shut 48 branches across the UK and cut 4,000 jobs.

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M&S’s food stores continued to trade throughout the lockdown period, but trading in other part of its business, such as clothing, was significantly reduced.

Sacha Berendji, director of retail, operations and property at M&S, said: "Our proposals reflect an important next step in our Never The Same Again programme to accelerate our transformation and become a stronger, leaner and more resilient business.

"Through the crisis we have seen how we can work faster and more flexibly by empowering store teams and it's essential that we embed that way of working.

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"Our priority now is to support all those affected through the consultation process and beyond."

Shares in the company slumped by two per cent to 96.8p after it announced the proposals.