Wilko is consulting with 3,900 employees about a shake-up of shop staffing roles.

The value retailer said that it was stripping out a level of supervision roles across its stores in the UK, but would create 1,000 new senior roles as part of the changes and a significant amount of customer service roles.

Anthony Houghton, Wilko retail director, said that the move was necessary to ensure “all retail operations are fit for the future”. Anthony added that despite growing customer numbers and efforts to reduce costs, the challenging landscape meant that it was dragging profits lower. Wilko’s consultation with staff will run until October and will affect “thousands” of store staff, according to Retail Week, which first reported the staffing change.

Wilko’s most recent accounts reveal that its pre-tax profits crashed by 80% in the year to 28th January, after a £12.9m hit from a jump in costs associated with the sterling slump following the EU Referendum. Wilko also criticised the introduction of the National Living Wage, which it said “was well above expected levels” and had hurt discount retailers.

Anthony added: “The changes to staffing are the legacy of retail structures which aren’t simple, fair or transparent for our team members. The simpler, newly defined store structure will give teams greater variety within their roles and result in more team hours on the shop floor, delivering a better customer experience”.