Up to 5,000 jobs will be cut in the UK by SSP Group, the travel food retailer behind outlets such as Upper Crust and Caffè Ritazza, spelling further pain for British workers as companies continue to fight for survival in the pandemic.
The axing of more than half the UK jobs at SSP comes as the air travel industry has virtually shut down and passenger numbers at railway stations have dropped 85 per cent compared with last year.
Airbus overnight warned that it would cut 15,000 jobs — with 1,700 positions in the UK alone. EasyJet said it could cut as many as 727 pilot jobs in the UK as well as potentially close bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle airports. In May the airline said it would axe up to 30 per cent of its workforce, equivalent to about 4,500 jobs.
Job cuts were also revealed across the high street on Tuesday, with thousands of jobs at risk at retailers such as TM Lewin, Bensons for Beds and Harveys. On Friday, Royal Mail said that up to 2,000 jobs would be lost.
Company bosses warn that further job losses are inevitable as the UK gradually winds down its furlough scheme, which has supported the wages of 9m workers across the country during the pandemic.
The scheme officially closed to new entrants on Wednesday as Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, seeks to ease back on payments that have already cost the taxpayer more than £25bn.
The Financial Times has calculated that more than 100,000 job losses have been announced by larger companies since the start of the pandemic, although this does not include the bulk of the job cuts across smaller businesses that have struggled to stay afloat during the lockdown. Tens of thousands of job cuts were announced last month at companies such as Centrica, Johnson Matthey, Nissan and Bombardier.
The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the UK rose to 2.8m in May, according to the Office for National Statistics, an increase of 528,000.
The job cuts show the scale of the economic cost of coronavirus as the UK government scrambles to kick-start the economy, with the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions alongside plans for investment in infrastructure projects across the country.
Next week, the chancellor will unveil a package of measures to help the economic recovery, with business groups lobbying for cuts to value added tax and an extension to loan and grant schemes to help businesses get back on their feet.
Many companies are moving ahead of the announcement, however, given doubts over how quickly the economy will bounce back, and in particular in hard-hit sectors such as aviation and consumer.
SSP said it expected that only a fifth of its outlets would be in a position to reopen by autumn.
“Covid-19 continues to have an unprecedented impact on the travel industry and on SSP’s businesses in all geographies,” said Simon Smith, chief executive of SSP. “In the UK, the pace of the recovery continues to be slow. In response to this, we are now taking further action to protect the business and create the right base from which to rebuild our operations.”
The costs associated with the restructuring are expected to be as much as £10m.
Before the pandemic, SSP employed 40,000 people in 35 countries. The job cuts unveiled on Wednesday are limited to the UK, where it operates about 570 units in railways and airports that need 9,000 workers in peak summer season. Fewer than 10 of those units are open at present.
The company has not begun large-scale job cuts in continental Europe, North America or the rest of the world, where it expects a more rapid recovery, a longer time for workers to receive government support or contractual lay-off arrangements.
Additional reporting by Tanya Powley
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2FjMzA0Yjk5LTBlOTMtNDBjMC1iODA3LWUwNmIzZGViMGY5M9IBP2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2FjMzA0Yjk5LTBlOTMtNDBjMC1iODA3LWUwNmIzZGViMGY5Mw?oc=5
2020-07-01 09:33:58Z
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