Poundland slashes head office jobs as it simplifies structure

Weeks after the High Court approved its restructuring, Poundland is officially moving forward with its transformation plan. The budget retailer has confirmed a number of job cuts across its head office as part of efforts to simplify the business structure.

Speaking to Retail Week, a spokesperson for the company said that it had proposed removing central roles at its Walsall customer service centre, alongside the closure of its Darton and Springvale distribution centres to “create a sustainable platform for the future”.

As a result, “a number of roles” are at risk of redundancy, the statement continued. The company has consulted formally with those impacted, the work of which is now almost complete. Poundland called the job losses a “regrettable” part of the plan “to restore the business to health”, yet deemed it necessary to “achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores in the long term”.

“We’ve made no secret of the fact we need to create a simpler and more focused business to get us back on track after a significant period of underperformance,” Poundland noted.

The company did not disclose the exact number of impacted employees in its statement, however, according to multiple media outlets, around 100 head office jobs have been slashed. Some job cuts are related to the reduction of store numbers, while others are due to the closure of its transactional website and rewards app.

Poundland’s restructuring plan received court-backing on August 26, just days before it was expected to run out of money, thus allowing it to avoid administration. The plan involved the proposed closure of 68 stores across the UK, yet by mid-September, the company reduced the list of shuttered stores to 57, halting the plan in the process.