Currys enters consultation period with 80 roles set to go across head office

The consultation does not include staff in store-facing roles, but around 80 jobs are expected to go.

Currys employs around 15,000 people in the UK but said, due to “government headwinds” adding costs, it needs to reduce its central costs in the UK by 10%.

Chief executive Alex Baldock has spoken about potential cost-cutting initiatives following October’s budget announcement, which may also include automation and offshoring.

A spokesperson from Currys told Retail Week: “Currys is winning in a challenging market, and our performance continues to strengthen. But in an environment where we have new government headwinds of over £30 million this year, we need to work hard to continue to maintain this success. 

“As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our central costs in the UK by 10% this financial year, and while we’re committed to protecting our investments in stores and online, which are increasing customer satisfaction, this will affect a number of non-customer-facing roles in the business.

“We are working to support those colleagues affected.”

Currys provided a trading update this week ahead of its full year results in July. Group like-for-like sales growth increased 4% in the 17 weeks to May 3, while pre-tax profit is expected to be around £162m.