Laura Ashley makes redundancies, sale talks continue

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 1, 2020

Laura Ashley’s administrators have made 268 head office and back office staff redundant with the remaining store staff now on furlough as all of its shops are currently shut.

The joint administrators from PwC said that store employees number almost 1,700.

The company went into administration on March 17 saying that the coronavirus had been the last straw and meant a sales uptick earlier in the year went into sharp reverse.

The furloughed store staff are being supported by the UK government's job retention scheme that means 80% of their salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 are being paid by the state.

The company’s online business is continuing to trade with staff attached to that operation working from home where they can. 

The administrators also said that they're in talks with interested parties about a sale of the business and while it's disappointing to have to announce redundancies, it's important that the business remains viable while those talks go on. 

They also said that they will be working with various agencies and employers that have vacancies in order to try to get work for the redundant employees. However at the current time this may be difficult to do as many businesses are effectively shuttered and many others have frozen all recruitment.