Tesco has announced that 9,000 jobs will be affected in a restructuring of its store and head office functions.

The UK's largest retailer said it hoped to redeploy half the staff facing the prospect of losing their job in the planned shake-up, which is aimed at "simplifying" the business as chains continue to invest in price cuts by saving money elsewhere.

It was just over a year ago that Tesco said it was cutting up to 1,700 management roles in the UK in order to "simplfy" the business.

Image: Dozens of Tesco's largest supermarkets will not be offering in-store counter services under the plans

The FTSE 100 firm - like its major rivals - has been slashing costs at the tills in a bid to better compete with discounters such as Aldi and Lidl which have enjoyed the biggest gains in market share terms in recent years.

Its shares were more than 2% down following the announcement.


Jason Tarry, Tesco's chief executive in the UK and Ireland, said: "In our four years of turnaround we've made good progress, but the market is challenging and we need to continually adapt to remain competitive and respond to how customers want to shop.

"We're making changes to our UK stores and head office to simplify what we do and how we do it, so we're better able to meet the needs of our customers.

The end of the deli counter at Tesco?

"This will impact some of our colleagues and our commitment is to minimise this as much as possible and support our colleagues throughout."

Tesco said that as part of in-store changes it would close counters at 90 of its largest supermarkets.

It said that changing customer habits meant meat, fish or deli service areas were not being used as frequently and the remaining 700 stores could see a reduced counter service.

Other reforms included new stocking routines which, it said, reduced the need for staffing and the removal of a hot food service for workers.

The news was released shortly after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) released a letter signed by major food retailers warning of the prospect of empty shelves in the event of a 'no-deal' Brexit.

Image: Tesco moved to bolster its buying power when it completed the purchase of the Booker wholesaling operation last year

Tesco was not among the signatories.

Pauline Foulkes - national officer for the Usdaw shopworkers' union, said: "Staff at Tesco are shocked and dismayed by the scale of yet another round of potential job losses, which clearly demonstrates the pressure retailers are under in the current very difficult and uncertain economic climate, as the cost cutting continues.

"With the BRC estimating that there were 70,000 job losses across the retail sector last year, we need an industrial strategy lead by the government, working with Usdaw and retailers to tackle the crisis on our high streets.

"This is devastating news for staff, who have played a crucial role in Tesco's turnaround project, contributing to 12 successive quarters of growth, solid Christmas trading and over a billion pounds of profit.

"We will enter into consultation talks with Tesco, where we will examine the business case for their proposed changes. In the meantime we are providing our members with the support, advice and representation they require at this difficult time."