Ted Baker wields axe on jobs, 500 to go

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 20, 2020

As M&S workers brace themselves for a round of job cuts, it has also emerged that Ted Baker is planning to axe at least 500 jobs. The roles will disappear from its London HQ and from its shops and represent the loss of almost a quarter of the jobs it currently has in the UK. 

Reports said that around 200 jobs will go from the London head office. The rest will disappear from its shops and in-store concessions. It currently has 46 standalone shops in the UK and Europe. 

The company confirmed that it has been looking at rightsizing its staffing levels as part of its ongoing turnaround plan and is currently talking to the individuals who will be affected. It's understood that both full-time and part-time jobs are being cut.

While the cuts are clearly a direct response to the effects of the pandemic, loss-making Ted Baker has been struggling for some time as the former retail star has faced a succession of problems, the failure to ignite sales growth being the biggest of them. 

It had already announced 160 job losses back in February as a result of its pre-pandemic problems. At the time it said that the job cuts in administrative roles were the first stage of its restructuring process.