the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 1GM 37
Business
Ben Martin Senior City Correspondent
Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain’s
biggest employers, has told more than
50,000 staff to work from home until
next year.
It said in a memo to employees that
the majority would continue to work
remotely until 2021. It had said previ-
ously that they would be at home until
at least the end of September.
The decision by the taxpayer-owned
lender comes only days after Boris
Johnson said that the government’s
advice to work from home would be
dropped next month in an attempt to
reverse the damage inflicted on the
economy by the pandemic. The prime
minister said that employers would
have “more discretion” about where
staff should work.
RBS, which is led by Alison Rose, is
one of the country’s biggest high street
lenders and has about 63,000 employ-
ees. It is majority-owned by the
government as a legacy of its £45 billion
bailout at the height of the 2008 finan-
cial crisis.
Although about 10,000 of the bank’s
staff have been going into its branches,
call centres and offices since the start of
lockdown, most have been working
from home.
Other businesses across the country
have taken similar steps to protect
workers from the coronavirus and the
shift towards remote working has hit
town and city centres hard. Shops,
cafés, bars and restaurants have been
badly hit by the slump in customer
numbers. Businesses such as Pret a
Manger, the sandwich chain, are clos-
commodities currencies
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Jun 22 30 Jul 8 16 Jun 19 29 Jul 8 16 Jun 22 30 Jul 8 16 Jun 22 30 Jul 8 16 Jun 22 30 Jul 8 16 Jun 22 30 Jul 8 16Marks & Spencer is planning to cut 950
roles as it accelerates an overhaul of the
business, bolstered by the belief that
shopping habits “have been changed
forever” by the pandemic.
The struggling high street has been
hit already by redundancies at Ted
Baker, Boots, John Lewis and
Debenhams. Almost 70,000 jobs have
been lost and 9,000 stores have closed
they were formed by
Henry VII in 1485. The
move is part of cost-
cutting at the Tower of
London amid the
coronavirus outbreak.
The pandemic has
led to the temporary
closure of six sites run
by Historic Royal
Palaces, a charity.
Visitors provide 80 per
cent of its income. AGurpreet Narwan
Economics CorrespondentThe economy has recovered half of the
output lost during lockdown, according
to the Bank of England’s chief
economist.
Andy Haldane told the Treasury
select committee yesterday that the
economy had enjoyed a bounce-
back in activity since output plum-
meted by a quarter after social distanc-
ing measures were introduced in late
March. “Roughly half of the roughly
25 per cent fall in activity during March
and April has been clawed back over
the period since,” Mr Haldane, 52, said.
“We have seen a bounceback. So far, it
has been a ‘V’.”
Mr Haldane’s view contrasts with
that of Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s
governor, who was more cautious in
comments that he made last week. Mr
Haldane, the only member of the nine-
strong monetary policy committee to
oppose expanding the Bank’s asset
purchase programme last month, said
he believed that the economy was
growing by about 1 per cent a week on
average, based on business surveys and
other less conventional figures, such as
traffic and mobility data.
Many economists fear that the
nascent recovery will lose momentum
if economic demand does not pick up in
the coming months. This could lead to
a second increase in unemployment
when the chancellor’s job retention
scheme, which is supporting the in-
comes of about a quarter of the work-
force, closes in October.
Britain’s economy returned to
growth in May, expanding by 1.8 per
cent, but economists had been hoping
for a much bigger rise of 5.5 per cent and
warned that the figure dampened
hopes of V-shaped recovery.
Mr Haldane said that the latest data
suggested that the economy did enjoy a
boost in June and July, but he warned
that the future was still uncertain. “The
Continued on page 40, col 450,000 staff told to ignore government advice
RBS: work
from home
until 2021
ing stores and cutting jobs as they
scramble to reduce costs. Fears have
been raised that closures and redun-
dancies will cause lasting damage to
high streets and the wider economy.
Mr Johnson announced on Friday
that the government’s advice on home
working would change from August 1.
“Instead of government telling people
to work from home, we’re going to give
employers more discretion and ask
them to make decisions about how
their staff can work safely,” he said. “It is
up to employers to decide whether they
think the time has come for them to be
more productive in a place of work for
a greater portion of the week.”
RBS had been due to update its staff
in September about its working
arrangements, but brought forward its
decision. A spokeswoman for the bank
said: “The decision has been made
carefully, including considering the
latest guidance from the UK govern-
ment on Friday and our own health and
safety standards and procedures. It’s a
cautious approach, but we feel the right
one to take currently.”
Sir Patrick Vallance, the govern-
ment’s chief scientific adviser, said the
day before Mr Johnson’s announce-
ment that there was “absolutely no
reason” to change the advice.
One obstacle to companies that are
considering bringing more staff back to
the workplace has been concerns about
using public transport.
After the prime minister’s announce-
ment last week, the CBI, the business
lobby group, had warned that “the
return to offices must not risk an infec-
tion spike”.LEON NEAL/GETTYEconomy has
recovered half
of losses, says
Bank chief
T
he historic
Beefeater
guards are
facing layoffs
for what is believed to
be the first time sincespokesman said that a
voluntary redundancy
scheme had been
introduced last month
and that there could be
compulsory job losses.
At least two of the
thirty-seven Yeoman
Warders, who guard
the Crown Jewels, are
said to have taken
voluntary redundancy
already.Beefeaters
face chop at
the Tower
M&S cuts 950 jobs in another blow for ‘radically changed’ high street
Louisa Clarence-Smith since the start of lockdown, according
to the Centre for Retail Research. The
retail sector has lost about 91,000 jobs
and 12,300 stores this year.
M&S said that it was making cuts at
its head office and property and store
management divisions. It said that it
would reduce layers of management
and would improve the use of techno-
logy in its shops.
Sacha Berendji, director of retail and
property, said: “Through the crisis we
have seen how we can work faster and
more flexibly by empowering store
teams and it’s essential that we embed
that way of working.” A consultation
process has begun and voluntary
redundancies are being sought.
M&S employs 78,000 people, of
which 27,000 have been furloughed
under the job retention scheme. It
warned in May that it would be examin-
ing headcount at all levels, with Archie
Norman, the chairman, revealing thebusiness had learnt what it could do
“with fewer people in extreme circum-
stances”. The group, which has 1,000
stores, is shifting to become more digi-
tally focused. It is due to launch on Oca-do’s website in September. Jonathan
Pritchard, retail analyst at Peel Hunt,
the broker, said: “M&S has always been
a business that people have perceived
as having a cost base that could be
trimmed.”
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capi-
tal, said: “It is a necessary measure for
M&S to make it more fit-for-purpose.
What it announced is just another
notch in a radical restructuring of the
retail scene post-coronavirus.”inside today
Courier company promises
to deliver 10,500 new posts
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