Home Retail Group has made 300 redundancies across all functions at its Milton Keynes head office.

The job cuts – at both the Argos and Homebase brands – represent 20 per cent of the 1,500-strong head office workforce.

Home Retail Group, which carried out two consultations with staff, said: “We have been able to keep job losses at a minimum by implementing a recruitment freeze earlier in the year and by redeploying some colleagues where possible.”

A spokeswoman said the move was a cost-cutting exercise and that the group needed to “look at how to move the business forward in these challenging times”.

Department store group House of Fraser has entered consultation with some staff as part of an efficiency drive.