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Budget Countdown: 500 UK Jobs to be Axed as Retail Boss Praises Automation and "Cheaper Workers Abroad"

ended 13. November 2025

With the Budget just days away, one UK retailer's workforce plans reveal what happens when tax pressure blows the balance sheet gasket. The BBC reports Buy It Direct's boss Nick Glynne blames national insurance rises and living wage increases for accelerating plans to cut two-thirds of his 800-strong workforce, mostly with AI and automation, and the remaining “human roles” will be done with cheaper off-shore labour.

The contradiction is stark. Glynne claims AI and automation will eliminate UK office and warehouse roles within three years, achieving "same revenue, same activity" with two-thirds fewer people. He admitted his experiment recruiting accountants, managers, traders, buyers, and senior IT staff abroad had been mostly successful as he accessed cheaper highly skilled labour.

For his business, it isn't just junior and blue-collar roles being replaced by robots; it's also senior positions requiring human expertise, relocated to countries with lower employment protections.

We'd like your views:

  • How have you changed your small business to cope with the Chancellor's perpetual tax grabs?
  • Have you used offshore workers to save money, or to be able to hire and fire easily?
  • With Budget 2025 imminent, what mechanisms could ensure employers  continue to use Brits and not bots?
  • Is this retail's early warning full automation is the only way to survive?

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
As the Chancellor prepares the November 2025 Budget, the warning is stark: she's already squeezed the pips from smaller businesses, and now AI plus offshoring means the cupboard will soon be utterly bare. When employer costs rise faster than productivity gains, businesses don't magically find bigger budgets, they find cheaper overseas labour and pin their hopes on AI bots. This retailer shows the collateral damage from fiscal policy that's made UK employment uncompetitive. If the chancellor keeps squeezing, and there'll be nothing left to tax.
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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
With rising taxes and relentless cost pressures — not least the employer NI hikes — it’s no surprise businesses are turning to tech and outsourcing just to stay competitive. Reeves’ tax on jobs is increasingly looking like a spectacular own goal.