Boots to cut 700 office jobs in the UK

Store workers will not be affected

Boots to cut 700 jobs (Getty)

Boots are cutting 700 office jobs in the UK, a spokesman has confirmed.

The pharmacist will lose 400 roles from its UK headquarters in Nottingham and another 300 from supporting roles in regions. Not all staff will lose their jobs outright, however, with voluntary losses, redeployments and retraining expected for some.

"Boots is simplifying the structure of support functions in order to provide a better level of service for stores and allow for a more focused investment in key areas to drive future growth," the firm said.

It added that the plan formed part of Walgreen’s Boots Alliance’s cost restructuring programme, set out in April.

Three years ago, Stefano Pessina, the executive chairman of Alliance Boots, said the company’s sale to Walgreens would not result in job cuts.

"How could I do a deal to kill Boots?" Pessina said at that time. "I have done a deal to make Boots more visible, more international, to create a lot of new markets for Boots and for Nottingham."

The £16 billion deal was approved in December and came into effect in January Boots now has 2511 in the UK and 633 opticians practices, part of 12,000 Walgreens and Boots stores across the globe.