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LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - British clothing and food
retailer Marks & Spencer said on Monday it planned to
cut 950 jobs as part of a restructuring, dealing a further blow
to a sector that has already seen thousands of redundancies
during the COVID-19 crisis.
M&S said it had started a consultation with its employee
representative group and had set out its intention to first
offer voluntary redundancy to affected workers across central
support functions, central operations and property and store
management.
The cuts form part of M&S's plan to move to a "leaner,
faster retail management structure," it said.
Britain's retailers, already struggling with high rents,
business taxes, tight margins and online competition, were
particularly hammered by the coronavirus lockdown.
Earlier this month health and beauty chain Boots
announced 4,000 job cuts, while department store chain John
Lewis said it would likely shed 1,300.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by William James and Paul
Sandle)