Sainsbury's to slash 2,000 jobs in cost cutting drive

Sainsbury’s is axing 2,000 jobs as the supermarket attempts to slash £500m of costs as it struggles with rising pressures from the return of  food inflation and soaring wage bills.

The grocer, which paid £1.4bn for Argos last year, has launched a radical staffing overhaul which will mean 1,400 payroll and human resources jobs will be scrapped. The retailer is also restructuring its human resources functions at its banking arm and Argos, which could lead to a further 600 job losses, a Sainsbury's spokesman confirmed.

In August, the Sunday Telegraph revealed that the supermarket had drawn up a staff reduction plan to meet its cost cutting target. Sainsbury’s employs 3,000 staff outside of its stores, including at its Holborn base in London. It also has a separate human resources centre in Manchester, an IT team in Walsgrave, Coventry, and a banking division in Edinburgh.

The staffing shake-up comes as the supermarket grapples with lower profits due to the price-war launched by discounters Aldi and Lidl whilst facing rising costs related to a weaker pound, the living wage and apprentice levy which is thought to have added tens of millions of pounds to its staffing bill.