Another 2,500 staff face axe at Debenhams

DEBENHAMS has axed 2,500 staff, taking its redundancies since April to 6,500 – a third of its workers.

The department store, which traces its history back to a 1778 London draper, has taken drastic action to survive after going into administration in April.

Yesterday it admitted the full extent of its difficulties for the first time, with at least 5,000 job losses in the UK. It closed 18 of its 142 stores in lockdown, and is now making managers and warehouse staff redundant.

The firm was criticised for giving the staff, who learnt they were losing their jobs yesterday, just three days’ notice before they are let go on Friday.

At the same time Intercontinental Hotels Group, the owners of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, said around 1,100 roles were being considered for redundancy, including up to 575 in the UK.

One in ten head office roles internationally is at risk, as well as between 200 and 500 jobs in its 19 managed and leased hotels in the UK. There are also likely to be further job losses in hotels run as franchises, which make up the vast majority of the 350 hotels carrying its brands in the UK.

Official statistics released yesterday found that 730,000 Britons have lost their jobs so far in lockdown – the most since 2009. Experts fear that this is only the start as many jobs, especially at smaller businesses, are being propped up by the Government’s wage subsidy scheme.

Analysis by the Daily Mail has found that 241,300 employees at 117 of the UK’s largest businesses face redundancy.