New Look is making a big change for hundreds of workers after closing stores
NEW Look is making a change for hundreds of workers following store closures.
The fashion brand shut five stores earlier this year and is planning another change affecting over 500 employees.
New look will be axing the night shift at its Lymedale Business Park warehouse, North Staffordshire, in mid-May.
The change will put 503 jobs at risk out of a total 1,200.
The clothing company said the cuts suited its “operational needs” but it may still save a number of workers by switching them to the day shift instead.
A New Look spokesperson said: “New Look has changed significantly over the past few years. We have accelerated our ecommerce business and right-sized our store estate.
“With this shift, it has become increasingly clear that the processes at the Distribution Centre no longer suit our operational needs.
“Therefore, we are proposing a necessary change to working hours in the Distribution Centre, including the removal of the night shift. Regrettably, we expect this will result in a number of redundancies at the site.
“We are focusing on supporting our affected colleagues at this time and we expect to be able to offer a considerable number of these individuals new roles on the day shift.”
Up to 300 employees may be transferred to work during extended day shifts, but those colleagues will be notified closer to May.
New Look already shut the following stores in January and early February this year:
- Birmingham, Fort Shopping Park
- Trowbridge
- Coventry
- Birmingham, Bullring
- Walthamstow, London
- Grosvenor Centre, Northampton
It’s also planning to close its Kirkcaldy store by the end of the month.
But in November 2022 New Look opened several shops across the UK.
It also has plans to open more stores later on in the year – though it hasn’t said how many and where in the UK they’ll be.
How many New Look stores shut in previous years?
In 2018, New Look sought approval from creditors to cut 1,600 staff and close more than 85 stores after it performed poorly and struggled to pay back loans.
In a statement, the company earmarked 60 out of its 593 stores for closure, as well as a further six sites which are sub-let to third parties.
The Company Voluntary Arrangement proposal also included a reduction in rental costs and revised lease terms across 393 stores.
As a result, up to 980 of its 15,300 UK staff were made redundant.
And later on in 2018, a further 25 stores were announced to be closing.
The retailer also closed all 148 of its stores in China.
You can see the full list of New Look store closures in our list here.
New Look was founded by Tom Singh in Taunton, Somerset, in 1969.
Prior to the closures, it now has more than over 900 stores internationally, including in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland and Romania.
It has expanded into Asia, with outlets in Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and China.
Elsewhere, Asda announced in January that 4,137 night workers could be moved to lower-paid daytime roles.
The hourly paid workers are seeing shift patterns moved to twilight – stocking chilled goods between 7pm and midnight, and frozen products between 7am and 1pm instead.
They will also lose their night shift pay premium which is currently at least £2.52 per hour.
On top of that, nearly 300 night manager and pharmacy roles are currently under threat.
Pharmacies affected are in; Southampton, Seaham, Feltham, Blackburn, Adel, West Bradford and Weston-Super-Mare.
What are my redundancy rights?
You are entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you have worked for your employer for two years or more.
The statutory rate is based on your age, weekly pay and number of years in the job.
You will get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you worked aged under 22
- One week’s pay for each full year you worked aged 22 or older, but under 41
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you worked while aged 41 or older.
Length of service is capped at 20 years.
In England, Scotland, and Wales the maximum amount of statutory redundancy pay is currently £17,130. However, in Northern Ireland it is £17,820.
You cannot be paid less than the statutory amount.
The limits may change when a new tax year begins each April.
The government has a calculator on its website to help you work out how much you are owed.
You may get more than this statutory amount if your employer has a redundancy scheme.
Redundancy pay up to £30,000 is tax-free.