Asda plans to relocate online clothing staff

The supermarket giant Asda has announced it plans to outsource and relocate online delivery workers from one of its depots in Northampton.

The private-equity owned chain said the workers at the Brackmills industrial estate would transfer from working for the George.com clothing brand to DHL.

A spokesperson said about 1,200 staff would be affected across three sites, including in Staffordshire and in Tyne and Wear, and jobs would move to Derby.

The GMB union said the decision would put "hard-working families and working-class" people's livelihoods at risk.

Asda said it planned to start the changes from January 2027 - over the course of a year - and that it was linked to its forecast that the George.com brand would double in size by 2032.

The distribution sites would remain open and continue to deliver to supermarkets for in-store purchases, the spokesperson said.

Staff working in distribution for other parts of the business at those sites will not be affected.

The depots in Staffordshire and Tyne and Wear are in Lymedale near Stoke-on-Trent and Washington respectively.

David Lepley, Asda's chief supply chain officer, said: "This proposal supports the continued growth of our George.com business as we seek to achieve our ambition for George to become the UK's largest clothing retailer by volume."

He said affected colleagues would be transferred under employment regulations, which protected pay, pension and length of service.

However, GMB said it "paves the way for a full carve-up of the company" by TDR, the private equity company that owns the supermarket.

Nadine Houghton, its national officer, said: "Hard-working families and working-class communities should not see their livelihoods put at risk due to the business decisions of a handful of private equity executives."

But Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton responded: "The suggestion that we are looking to break up the business is categorically untrue and, frankly, insulting to all our colleagues."

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