Morrisons is set to cut over 200 jobs in its retail people team, making it the latest UK grocer to push ahead with a major cost-cutting drive.

The supermarket is proposing to remove the roles of regional people manager, store people manager and case specialist from its structure, placing colleagues in these roles at risk of redundancy, The Grocer reported.

It comes a month after Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitieh called on the government to space out the “avalanche of costs” set to hit businesses following the October Budget.

A Morrisons spokesperson told the title: “We have recently carried out a review of our People structure to ensure we are offering our stores and sites a timely and consistent service.

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“The new structure will consist of a number of new central roles to support our supermarkets directly along with central HR support and additional employee relations roles. Before any final decisions are taken, we will undertake a minimum 45-day consultation process.”

It is not the only supermarket on a cost-cutting drive, with Sainsbury’s having unveiled changes yesterday (23 January), including to shut 61 cafés and close its remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters.

The changes will see over 3,000 jobs cut, amid what CEO Simon Roberts called a “particularly challenging cost environment”.

Earlier this month, Asda also revealed the axing of 13 regional managers as part of a senior shake-up, designed to increase performance and cut costs.

Iceland has since invited retail staff and managers to join its team with over 600 jobs available across its operations nationwide.