Asda plans to cut further jobs, only days after it made 500 staff redundant without consultation.

The Telegraph reported that the next wave of job cuts is expected to target IT staff who are currently working on the grocery retailer’s transformation and separation of its IT system from Walmart, dubbed “Project Future”.

Asda bosses have not said how many head office staff will be dismissed, but described the number as “meaningful”.

However, a spokesperson for Asda has insisted that the changes were not new job cuts, but instead referred to colleagues working on the Future programme who were brought in on fixed term contracts, and were expected to leave when their contract ends.

The spokesperson added: “We’ve structured our approach in a way which creates certainty for those leaving the business and those who are staying. All our colleagues who are sadly leaving us are being offered appropriate financial compensation to support them as they look for new roles.”

It follows the supermarket giant last week ordering its over 5,000 head office staff back to the office a minimum of three days a week and announcing a series of job cuts as it attempts to arrest its slump in sales.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Workers unions have spoken out about the job cuts, with claims that Asda did not carry out the government’s rule of a 45-day consultation when cutting more than 100 jobs. Union chiefs also claim pregnant staff were made redundant while on maternity leave.

A GMB spokesman told the publication: “GMB are concerned that Asda have circumvented the established legal process for ensuring mass redundancies are handled fairly.

“This calls into question how they have ensured the process has been equality-proofed to protect, for example, women, those with disabilities, those with caring responsibilities.”

However, last week Asda chairman Lord Rose told the publication that no employment rules had been broken, adding: “It is categorically not against the law. Why would I do something that was against the law?”.

Rose claimed that abrupt dismissals were the more “humane way” to carry out the job cuts as it removed weeks of uncertainty for affected staff and awarded them more compensation than would have received during consultation.

He said: “We said to them, ‘Right, we are going to offer you a package that is greater than what you would have got through consultation’.

“People understand that and they respect that. It’s a painful process but it has been done in a humane way.”

Asda has been contacted for comment.