News updates: Unemployment grew by 74,000 in June
- Full story: number of workers on UK payroll falls by nearly 650,000
- Train passengers to be tempted back with ‘safe travel’ campaign
- NHS boss who blamed outbreak on staff pictured without mask
- Children in Scotland need post-Covid-19 mental health care
- Global coronavirus updates – live
Around 500 jobs are being cut at luxury fashion firm Burberry in the UK and globally as it axes office space and makes cuts across stores outside Britain after lockdown sent sales tumbling.
The firm said around 150 office jobs are expected to go in the UK, where it is headquartered, and a further 350 overseas as it looks to slash annual costs by a further £55 million. This comes on top of the previously announced £140 million cost savings.
Sales were severely impacted by the drop in luxury demand from Covid-19 and we expect it will take time to return to pre-crisis levels with the resumption of overseas travel.
As we enter the second phase of our strategy, we are sharpening our focus on product and making other organisational changes to increase our agility and generate structural savings that we will be able to reinvest into consumer-facing activities to further strengthen our luxury positioning.
In retail, tourist flows are likely to remain negligible, and store operations are continuing to face significant headwinds, with some remaining closed and operating with reduced trading hours.
Here is the Guardian’s economics correspondent Richard Partington’s piece on the ONS figures.
The figures reveal that the number of hours worked in the UK plummeted between March and May at a record pace, the steepest drop since records began in 1971.
Related: Number of UK workers on company payroll falls by 650,000 amid Covid-19 crisis