Further 1,300 Wilko redundancies announced

A further 1,300 job losses at Wilko have been announced, despite administrators finding a buyer for a number of the high street retailer’s stores.

Discount retailer B&M has agreed to acquire up to 51 Wilko stores. However, administrators at PwC said it had become clear from discussions with potential buyers for the remainder of the business that 52 other stores would need to close.

This will result in a further 1,016 redundancies and staff at affected stores will be informed today (6 September).

The final day of trading at these stores will be Tuesday 12 September and Thursday 14 September.

A further 299 redundancies at the two distribution centres in Worksop and Newport have also been announced, on top of the 269 revealed last week. The redundancies will be effective from Thursday 7 September.

According to the GMB union there will be 17 redundancies among staff in digital operations.

The fate of a further 300 stores remains uncertain, with proposals put forward by HMV owner Doug Putman being held up due to funding issues, according to reports.

Joint administrator Edward Williams said: “In the absence of viable offers for the whole business, very sadly store closures and redundancies of team members from those stores are now necessary, in addition to the already announced redundancies at the support centre and distribution centres.

“We know this has been a deeply unsettling time for everyone concerned and would like to express our gratitude to all Wilko team members for the dedication and support they have continued to give the business in the most trying of circumstances.”

PwC said it has a dedicated team to support those affected, including assisting with statutory redundancy claims.

GMB said it was making enquiries about the possibility of current staff being given preferential treatment for any B&M jobs that might become available.

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