H&M has filed for redundancies for its UK head office, in a move that supposedly could impact around 250 employees.
The proposed changes have allegedly been communicated through a collective consultation process that began in April, according to an internal document seen by Retail Gazette, provided by an inside source with knowledge of the process.
The filed HR1 document, a form alerting the government of advanced notification of redundancies, showed that “the total number of employees affected” is 250. The job cuts are set to occur between 2nd October and 31 December 2026, across its Oxford Street, Regent Street, Stratford City, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Birmingham locations.
It also alleged that H&M’s Oxford Street location will be worst hit, with the document showing the the fashion retailer is set to axe 40 employees, although the final figure is yet to be confirmed.
According to the source, employees were told that the redundancies were due to “overlapping responsibilities” and that “the decision making is too far from the customer,” rather than the company’s recent financial performance.
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When asked to comment on the upcoming redundancies, a spokesperson for H&M said: “As we announced in connection with the publication of our latest Financial Report, we are implementing organisational changes in our sales markets and within the central sales organisation.
“We have further reduced organisational complexity and brought decision-making closer to our customers.”
The fashion retailer said it disputed the figure of 250 affected staff members, and that this instead represented the number of employees who were communicated to about the process, but declined to give an updated figure.
It added: “We kindly ask for your understanding that we will not be able to share more information.”
It comes as the third major head office reorganisation at H&M in around six years, and just weeks after H&M’s Group trading update which revealed net sales for the first half of the financial year reached £8.1bn (SEK 104.4bn), down 1 per cent in local currencies year-on-year.
The report also showed that the high street retailer had shut stores across all of its brands by 128 net locations during the last year.
Speaking at the time, CEO Daniel Ervér noted that while the financial health of the business is recovering, sales are “not where we want to be” due to soft retail markets.
The proposed job cuts at H&M would follow a series of international head office changes in recent months, including redundancies linked to the relocation of its Southeast Asia headquarters from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. The transition took effect on July 1, 2026, as part of a wider restructuring of its Asia-Pacific operations.
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