Sainsbury's head office jobs to go in shake-up

The grocer wants to simplify internal structures and reduce duplication of roles. It has been in consultation with staff this week and was unable to confirm the final number of jobs that are likely to be cut.

The three main business units – grocery, fresh food and non-food – have been restructured. A Sainsbury's spokesman said: "This will simplify activities and enable greater synergies across our supplier base. New jobs have also been created."

The grocer has hired Simon Twigger as business unit director of fresh and chilled food, and its existing director of brand communications Helen Buck has been made business unit director of grocery.

Sainsbury's has also consolidated its non-food teams under one overall director, with strategy director Luke Jensen becoming managing director of non-food.

The spokesman said: "Sainsbury's is a business in growth. These changes are part of normal productivity changes undertaken over time. We reviewed our store management structures last year and also our HR stores teams.

"This year we are a net creator of jobs, particularly in stores where we are growing trade levels and the store estate. We expect to open 16 stores and 50 convenience stores over the next 12 months."
Other appointments in the reshuffle include Claire Harrison-Church, who joins from Alliance Boots as director of brand communications, and Andrew Mann, who has been poached from Tesco as director of customer insight and loyalty.

Sainsbury's reported strong growth over Christmas with like-for-like sales up 4.5 per cent. Chief executive Justin King said he wants to recruit up to 5,000 staff for its expansion plans. However, King warned that this year was going to be tough and he needed to keep a tight rein on costs.

> Somerfield has reported like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, up 3.7 per cent for the three weeks to January 3.