Morrisons creating 7,000 shop-floor jobs - but 3,000 managers will go

Morrisons says it is creating 7,000 new shop-floor jobs - but that 3,000 managers will either leave the company or have their roles downgraded.

The supermarket chain said the aim was to "serve customers better" within its stores by changing the way they are staffed.

The plan will see managers who are retained "concentrate on helping frontline colleagues to do their job and run their stores", the company said.

Morrisons said: "Many of the new jobs will be on Morrisons renowned Market Street counters where skilled butchers, bakers, fishmongers and other fresh food specialists serve customers."

Retail director David Lepley said: "Whilst there will be a short period of uncertainty for some managers affected by these proposals we will be supporting them through this process and there are jobs available for everybody who wants to continue to work at Morrisons.

"There will also be more roles with greater flexibility that are very attractive to colleagues with families."

The news was announced just days after rival Sainsbury's said it was cutting hundreds of roles as it completes the integration of Argos into its store network.

It was almost two years ago that Morrisons cut 1,500 managerial roles as it first moved to bolster the customer experience amid a customer drift from the so-called "big four" chains to discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The pair have eaten into the market dominance of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons since the financial crisis as they have expanded aggressively.

Just weeks ago, Morrisons reported a sharp slowdown in sales growth over the crucial Christmas season.

It had blamed the performance on Brexit and election uncertainty in the nine weeks to 6 January.