High Street Pharmacy chain Boots has announced that it expects to cut more than 4,000 jobs as part of action to mitigate the “significant impact” of Covid-19.
The move will affect around 7% of the company’s workforce and will particularly affect staff in its Nottingham support office.
It will also affect some deputy and assistant manager, beauty adviser and customer adviser roles across its stores.
The restructuring will also result in the closure of 48 Boots Opticians stores.
It comes after retail sales tumbled by 48% over the past three months in the face of the pandemic, despite Boots keeping swathes of its stores open to customers.
Boots said that the cuts represent an “acceleration” of its transformation plans to improve profitably across the business.
Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK, said: “The proposals announced today are decisive actions to accelerate our transformation plan, allow Boots to continue its vital role as part of the UK health system, and ensure profitable long-term growth.
