Asda to axe over 1,300 as it struggles to keep up with Aldi and Lidl

Supermarket Asda is to cut 1,360 jobs, which it says is part of its strategy to adapt to change and to keep up with Aldi and Lidl.

15:32 04 July 2014

Asda has announced its plan to cut 1,360 jobs as part of an overhaul of its store management structure.

The announcement came after two months that the Walmart-owned chain said that thousands of roles were at risk as the company needed to reduce the number of back office jobs in favour of more customer-facing roles.

Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said: 'Every supermarket must adapt to the intense changes in UK retailing or they will get left behind.'

The new structure will create 1,662 section managers and 4,000 section leaders but the redundancies will come from staff who do not meet the selection criteria or those who choose to leave.

Clarke said that axing the jobs was one of the most difficult decisions he had to make as chief executive.

He added: 'Whilst I genuinely believe that it is the right decision for the future of Asda, knowing that it will result in valued colleagues leaving us is not easy.'