Premier Inn owner Whitbread to cut 6,000 jobs due to coronavirus
PREMIER INN owner Whitbread has announced plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs following the coronavirus crisis.
It comes as the hospitality and travel industries continue to be hit by measures to slow down the spread of Covid-19.
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Whitbread, which also owns pub chains Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, said the potential job cuts represent 18% of its total workforce.
The company hopes a "significant proportion" of the job cuts will be made through voluntary redundancy.
It also revealed plans to lower contracted hours for some staff.
Whitbread said its sales plunged by almost 80% during the first half of its financial year to August 27 after the majority of its hotels and restaurants were forced to close due to lockdown.
Job losses since June 2020
MANY firms have announced job cuts since June as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. These include:
- Shoe chain Aldo collapsed into administration with five stores permanently closed
- Victoria's Secret plunged into administration, putting 800 jobs at risk
- Fashion chain Quiz put its shop business into administration in , putting 82 stores at risk
- British Gas owners cuts 5,000 jobs, over half of which will be in management
- Airbus announces 1,700 job losses. It expects cuts to be made by summer 2021
- TM Lewin says it will close all 66 of its UK shops, putting 600 jobs at risk
- Harveys Furniture goes into administration resulting in 240 immdiate job losses and puts another 1,000 at risk
- Upper Crust plans to make 5,000 out of its 9,000-strong workforce redundant
- EasyJet says it plans to close hubs at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle, putting 4,500 jobs at risk
- John Lewis is reported to be planning to cut jobs and permanently close department stores
- Harrods has said it is consulting on cutting 680 jobs
- Virgin Money, which owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, will cut 300 jobs
- Topshop owner Arcadia has announced plans to cut 500 office staff
- Royal Mail is expected to cut 2,000 jobs as a result of coronavirus
- BMW and Mini have announced they will axe 520 jobs at Birmingham, Oxford and Swindon plants
- Pret a Manger is cutting 2,800 jobs with 30 stores to close
- Costa Coffee is axing 1,650 jobs - it hasn't announced any store closures at this stage
- Gatwick has announced plans to cut 600 jobs, around 25% of its workforce.
- Heathrow is asking 2,500 workers to accept hefty pay cuts or half may lose jobs.
- Hays travel has announced 878 employees out of 4,500 could lose their jobs.
- London City Airport will axe 239 jobs as part of a major restructure.
But it said sales have started to improve since its businesses reopened in July.
In particular, the company said its restaurant chains had been boosted by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
The UK hotel and restaurant industry has been devastated by government orders to temporarily close on March 20.
Premier Inn hotels opened again in England and Northern Ireland on July 4, followed by July 13 in Wales and July 15 in Scotland.
Brewers Fayre and Beefeater pubs also started welcoming customers back from July 4.
What are my redundancy rights?
BEFORE making you unemployed, your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.
You are entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you've been working somewhere for at least two years.
How much you're entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You'll get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
- One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
Sadly, you won't be entitled to a payout if you've been working for your employer for fewer than two years.
There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.
You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.
Whitbread says it expects demand to remain at lower levels following the coronavirus crisis.
The job losses also come on top of cuts to reduce its head office workforce by up to a fifth.
Whitbread said it would axe up to 20% of these senior roles.
Alison Brittain, chief executive of Whitbread, said: "With demand for travel remaining subdued, we are now having to make some very difficult decisions.
"It is with great regret that today we are announcing our intention to enter into a consultation process that could result in up to 6,000 redundancies in the UK.
"It is hoped that a significant proportion can be achieved voluntarily."
It's not yet clear which brands will be affected by the job cuts, or whether they will be across the board.
The announcement comes as the government's furlough scheme is due to end next month.
Thousands of jobs across the UK are expected to be culled when the support stops on October 31.
In the retail industry, some 43,000 jobs have been lost already after shops were forced to temporarily close during lockdown.
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Butlins has also warned that it could axe 1,000 jobs following the coronavirus crisis.
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It comes as new research showed employers across the UK planned to axe more than 300,000 jobs in June and July.
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that unemployment could hit 3million this year.