Kingfisher-owned B&Q is making nearly 20% of its head office staff redundant, cutting 220 of the 1,200 jobs based from its Hampshire headquarters in order to deliver a more "agile" service to its customers.
The retailer has also created 100 new head office roles. Those who have been made redundant were notified today, and there will be a 90 day consultation period. B&Q told DIY Week it was "doing everything it can for those people who are affected today, including enhanced redundancy packages, which go way beyond statutory requirements."

In a statement the retailer added: "A very different approach to creating [a] new organisation structure has taken place over the last few months and everyone in the team has been involved in this approach to create a more customer-focused, agile, omni-channel retailer.

"The new structure includes many new and different roles and changes to ways of working to ensure that B&Q is building sustainable jobs for the future and planning for growth."

B&Q people director Fraser Longden said: "We recognise this is a difficult time for everyone and thank everyone for their contributions to the business and this process; these changes are fundamental to creating sustainable jobs and the future growth of the business."

Speaking as Kingfisher announced its H1 results recently, divisional ceo for B&Q Kevin O'Byrne admitted the next few months would bring "possible redundancies". The board confirmed these would likely befall the 1,200-strong head office work force based in Cheshire Way.

"We are streamlining the business and making sure everyone is in the right place," he added. "If we are looking at redesigning it, there will be job losses." At the time, Kingfisher could not confirm just how many redundancies would be made.