High street giant Debenhams, with stores across East Anglia, is to axe managerial staff across its stores and warehouses.

The department store, which closed in Yarmouth before lockdown and in King’s Lynn in May, is scrapping the roles of sales manager, visual merchandise manager and selling support manager as part of a management restructure. A spokesman said he could not say how many jobs were affected locally. However, one local worker in Norwich, who wished remain anonymous, told this newspaper Debenhams was telling those whose jobs were at risk by using a Zoom video call.

The move comes four months after the firm collapsed into administration.

Debenhams said it has no plans to shut more stores.

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Hundreds of jobs have already been lost at the retailer since the start of lockdown after it permanently shut 18 stores.

In April, it hired administrators and in May, said it would cut hundreds of jobs at its head office.

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.”