UK firms cut almost 4,500 jobs during first few days of August

4 August 2020, 17:17

Pizza Express has said it could close around 67 of its UK restaurants, with up to 1,100 jobs at risk
Pizza Express has said it could close around 67 of its UK restaurants, with up to 1,100 jobs at risk. Picture: PA

By Maddie Goodfellow

The coronavirus pandemic has battered the UK economy since it arrived in early 2020, with a further 4,500 job cuts announced during the first few days of August as the furlough scheme starts to wind down.

No sector has been left untouched by the huge economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the last few days, Dixons Carphone, Pizza Express, Hays Travel and DW Sports have all announced major redundancies, or plans that could put hundreds of jobs at risk.

It comes as many businesses have to decide whether to keep staff who have been on furlough on their books as the Government’s coronavirus job retention scheme starts to unwind.

The latest figures show that more than 26,000 jobs were lost in July.

This is only slightly less than in June, when almost 30,000 jobs were lost at British employers.

In May, around 36,000 job losses were announced.

Pizza express is one of the firms to announce job losses in the last few days
Pizza express is one of the firms to announce job losses in the last few days. Picture: PA

Here is the full list of all major potential job losses announced since March 23:

The list of job losses only counts the biggest job cuts that have been announced to the public. Thousands more positions have likely been lost at smaller firms.

August 4 - Dixons Carphone - 800

August 4 - Pizza Express - 1,100 at risk

August 3 - Hays Travel - up to 878

August 3 - DW Sports - 1,700 at risk

July 31 - Byron - 651

July 30 - Pendragon - 1,800

July 29 - Waterstones - unknown number of head office roles

July 28 - Selfridges - 450

July 27 - Oak Furnitureland - 163 at risk

July 23 - Dyson - 600 in UK, 300 overseas

July 22 - Mears - fewer than 200

July 20 - Marks & Spencer - 950 at risk

July 17 - Azzurri Group (owns Zizzi and Ask Italian) - up to 1,200

July 16 - Genting - 1,642 at risk

July 16 - Burberry - 150 in UK, 350 overseas

July 15 - Banks Mining - 250 at risk

July 15 - Buzz Bingo - 573 at risk

July 14 - Vertu - 345

July 14 - DFS - up to 200 at risk

July 9 - General Electric - 369

July 9 - Eurostar - unknown number

July 9 - Boots - 4,000

July 9 - John Lewis - 1,300 at risk

July 9 - Burger King - 1,600 at risk

July 7 - Reach (owns Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers) - 550

July 6 - Pret a Manger - 1,000 at risk

July 2 - Casual Dining Group (owns Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge) - 1,909

July 1 - SSP (owns Upper Crust) - 5,000 at risk

July 1 - Arcadia (owns TopShop) - 500

July 1 - Harrods - 700

July 1 - Virgin Money - 300

June 30 - Airbus - 1,700

June 30 - TM Lewin - 600

June 30 - Smiths Group - "some job losses"

June 25 - Royal Mail - 2,000

June 24 - Jet2 - 102

June 24 - Swissport - 4,556

June 24 - Crest Nicholson - 130

June 23 - Shoe Zone - unknown number of jobs in head office

June 19 - Aer Lingus - 500

June 17 - HSBC - unknown number of jobs in UK, 35,000 worldwide

June 15 - Jaguar Land Rover - 1,100

June 15 - Travis Perkins - 2,500

June 12 - Le Pain Quotidien - 200

June 11 - Heathrow - at least 500

June 11 - Bombardier - 600

June 11 - Johnson Matthey - 2,500

June 11 - Centrica - 5,000

June 10 - Quiz - 93

June 10 - The Restaurant Group (owns Frankie and Benny's) - 3,000

June 10 - Monsoon Accessorise - 545

June 10 - Everest Windows - 188

June 8 - BP - 10,000 worldwide

June 8 - Mulberry - 375

June 5 - Victoria's Secret - 800 at risk

June 5 - Bentley - 1,000

June 4 - Aston Martin - 500

June 4 - Lookers - 1,500

May 29 - Belfast International Airport - 45

May 28 - Debenhams (in second announcement) - "hundreds" of jobs

May 28 - EasyJet - 4,500 worldwide

May 26 - McLaren - 1,200

May 22 - Carluccio's - 1,000

May 21 - Clarks - 900

May 20 - Rolls-Royce - 9,000

May 20 - Bovis Homes - unknown number

May 19 - Ovo Energy - 2,600

May 19 - Antler - 164

May 15 - JCB - 950 at risk

May 13 - Tui - 8,000 worldwide

May 12 - Carnival UK (owns P&O Cruises and Cunard) - 450

May 11 - P&O Ferries - 1,100 worldwide

May 5 - Virgin Atlantic - 3,150

May 1 - Ryanair - 3,000 worldwide

April 30 - Oasis Warehouse - 1,800

April 29 - WPP - unknown number

April 28 - British Airways - 12,000

April 23 - Safran Seats - 400

April 23 - Meggitt - 1,800 worldwide

April 21 - Cath Kidston - 900

April 17 - Debenhams - 422

March 31 - Laura Ashley - 268

March 30 - BrightHouse - 2,400 at risk

March 27 - Chiquito - 1,500 at risk.

Labour shadow home sec recommends rich to pay for furlough of workers

According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last month, the number of workers on company payrolls in the UK fell by 649,000 between March and June.

According to statistics published on Tuesday, the Government has supported the payrolls of around 9.6 million workers in the UK through the furlough scheme.

Around 1.2 million employers are currently using the furlough scheme, which has cost £33.8 billion to date.

However, as furlough unwinds from the beginning of this month, and comes to an end in October, experts are worried that the furlough scheme could be masking a big drop in employment that is yet to come.