M&S calls reports of further HQ job cuts "inaccurate"

M&S has countered a report in The Sunday Times that more head office job cuts are being planned saying that reports of hundreds of job losses are “simply inaccurate”.

The newspaper had said a “fresh round of job cuts” at the HQ, where around 4,000 employees are based, was happening mainly through “natural attrition” as part of a cost-cutting drive.

But M&S has said that the lease on the building ends in 2028 and it’s a sensible time to think about staffing needs in London and elsewhere.

Sources had told The Sunday Times that hundreds of jobs “would probably” be cut.

M&S has been laser-focused on controlling its costs and driving its turnaround forward in recent years with the efforts appearing to pay off. The firm’s results have been improving and the strength of M&S’s operations compared to John Lewis has often been referenced in articles detailing the latter’s current woes.

Meanwhile, M&S has also been rationalising its store estate, both opening and closing stores. The latest round of closures of larger stores is currently under way with news that Fenchurch Street in London closed on Friday and Meadowbank retail park in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough will shut in mid-April and Carlton Street in Castleford at the end of the month. The Newport Road branch in Cardiff will shut later this spring with Eagles Meadow in Wrexham to close in the autumn, and Deansgate, Bolton at a time yet to be confirmed.

M&S calls reports of further HQ job cuts "inaccurate"

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