Tesco to cut 400 jobs in stores and head office

Tesco has announced plans to cut about 400 jobs as part of plans to "simplify" the business.

The supermarket giant said jobs will be affected at its bakeries, mobile phone shops and its head office in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Tesco explained it is having to seek "more efficient ways of working" due to the increasingly competitive nature of the UK grocery industry.

The retailer said the shake-up will see it change how it operates its bakery model in some stores and alterations to the management structure used in Tesco Mobile stores.

Matthew Barnes, CEO, said: "These are difficult decisions affecting our colleagues, but we believe they are necessary to enable us to invest in what matters most to our customers.

"Our priority is to support impacted colleagues and we will do everything we can to help them find alternative roles within our business. Today, we have almost 1,000 vacancies available."

Separately, Tesco said it will soon launch a consultation over the closure of its Snodland distribution centre in Kent.

It said this follows plans to open a new warehouse site in Aylesford, around three miles away, with all affected workers at Snodland being offered roles at the new site.

Earlier this month, Tesco bosses celebrated the retailer's "biggest ever Christmas" as it increased its share of the UK grocery market to its highest level since 2016.

It reported UK and Ireland like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT, up 3.7% over the six weeks to January 4 and record trading in the week before Christmas.

The cuts at Tesco come a week after rival Sainsbury's said it would cut 3,000 jobs as it shuts down its remaining cafés and closes its patisserie and pizza counters.