Tesco boss Dave Lewis to cut up to 10,000 jobs

Beleaguered supermarket Tesco could cut up to 10,000 jobs as chief executive Dave Lewis continues with his drastic overhaul of the underperforming giant.

A report from the Sunday Telegraph states some 6,000 jobs will go from 43 shops and the Cheshunt HQ, which will be closed down.

In addition, Lewis's strategy involves the removal of an entire layer of management at existing stores. The managers affected, who work between the store manager and shop assistants, will be offered alternative roles, but it is not clear if these will be on the same level of pay or even full-time, reported the Telegraph.

Lewis has said that he wants to slash overhead costs by almost a third and will make cuts of £250m.

Tesco is the UK's biggest private sector employer, with more than 310,000 staff across 3,330 stores.

According to the report, company began consultations with staff at the end of January. Head office employees have been offered the chance to apply for voluntary redundancy. The final number of job losses will be determined by the result of the consultation process and whether in-store staff accept alternative roles.

Lewis outlined cost cuttings at the beginning of 2015: "We have some very difficult changes to make. I am very conscious that the consequences of these changes are significant for all stakeholders in our business but we are facing the reality of the situation," he said.

Under Lewis's guidance, Tesco recently recorded sales growth for the first time in a year, according to researcher Kantar Worldpanel.

Tesco increased sales by 0.3% for the 12 weeks to 1 February compared with the same period last year, Kantar said.