High street pharmacy chain Boots has said it plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs – 7% of its workforce – 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 in the UK.
It will also affect some deputy and assistant manager, beauty adviser and customer adviser roles across its stores, Mirror.co.uk reports.
The restructuring will also result in the closure of 48 Boots Opticians stores.
However, the announcement will not affect the 2,000 people employed in the 89 Boots outlets across the Republic of Ireland.
In a statement, Boots Ireland said on Thursday: “The announcement made today relates to the restructuring of Head Office, store and optician roles across the UK and does not include roles at Boots Ireland.
“Boots Ireland continues to monitor and review operations across the country.”
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.
Meanwhile, its opticians business saw sales dive by 72% compared to the same quarter last year as people stayed at home.
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.
"I am so very grateful to all our colleagues for their dedication during the last few challenging months.
It's not yet clear if any Irish stores will be affected.
