John Lewis expected to axe 1,500 head office jobs today

JOHN Lewis Partnership is expected to axe 1,500 head office jobs today following a consultation.

The employee-owned business behind John Lewis and Waitrose first proposed plans to axe the roles at its head offices in London’s Victoria Street and Bracknell in November.

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Yesterday, it is believed to have told individual workers that they are now at risk of redundancy.  

The partnership is seeking to save £50 million from the headcount reduction.

It will seek to find new roles in the partnership for partners whose roles become redundant.

The cuts, to be implemented by April 2021, are part of a wider £300 million cost-saving target. 

What are my redundancy rights?

BEFORE making you unemployed, your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.

You are entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you've been working somewhere for at least two years.

How much you're entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You'll get:

  • Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
  • One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
  • One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.

Sadly, you won't be entitled to a payout if you've been working for your employer for fewer than two years.

There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.

You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.

Eight John Lewis department stores have already closed.

For partners who are unable to find new roles, it will provide them with a “market leading redundancy support and funds for retraining”.

This includes up to £3,000 towards a recognised qualification or course for up to two years for any partner with two years’ service or more.

John Lewis has had to close when national coronavirus lockdowns are in place, but was open for click and collect.

However, earlier this month it said it would temporarily suspend the service as part of efforts to encourage people to stay at home while the public is under stay at home orders.

Waitrose is classified as an ‘essential retailer’ so stores have been allowed to stay open throughout lockdowns.

The spokeswoman added that the company will seek to redeploy workers affected by the cuts and will provide redundancy support and funding for retraining for staff whom they are unable to find new roles.

It's the latest round of job losses suffered by the high street as a result of the Covid restrictions on the high street.

Other stores to have make cuts to the workforce include Pizza Express, Greggs, Cineworld and WHSmith.

The most recent official figures show around 1.72million workers are now out of work as the unemployment rate rose to 5% in the three months to November.

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