Bury St Edmunds Debenhams axes '20 jobs'

Redundancies have been made at Debenhams in Bury St Edmunds with '20 staff' losing their jobs.

Staff at the arc shopping centre store were informed in a conference call at 10am today, according to one member of staff.

The staff member, who did not wish to be named, said '20 staff' were made redundant - with the majority on furlough - and would be paid until Friday.

However, they said they would receive no redundancy pay, holiday pay accrued and no notice pay from the company. They can claim for statutory redundancy.

Debenhams entered administration for the second time in a year in April and has made 2,500 staff redundant across the company.

The staff member, who has been at the store 'a long time', said: "I'm very upset. I'm sitting here just applying for jobs but there's so many kids out of work. It's a mess.

"Maybe it's a sign of the times but I thought Bury would have survived a little bit more than this."

They said all the staff made redundant were sales advisors on mixed hour contracts.

"We were told it was to do with money but that's it really. That's how Debenhams are working at the moment which is really not very nice."

A Debenhams spokesman said: "We have successfully reopened 124 stores, post-lockdown, and these are currently trading ahead of management expectations.

"At the same time, the trading environment is clearly a long way from returning to normal and we have to ensure our store costs are aligned with realistic expectations.

"Those colleagues affected by redundancy have been informed and we are very grateful to them for their service and commitment to Debenhams.

"Such difficult decisions are being taken by many retailers right now, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to give Debenhams every chance of a viable future.”

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