ABOUT 200 head office staff at Debenhams, the department store group, discovered yesterday that they would lose their jobs by the end of March.

The jobs cull comes as part of cost-cutting measures that will see further redundancies among the chain’s 23,000 staff, expected to be announced next week.

One source close to the retailer said that more than 15 staff per store could go.

Debenhams — which has more than 100 stores across the UK and the Irish Republic — was taken private by Baroness Retail, a consortium led by John Lovering, in a £1.7 billion deal. Analysts said that Baroness had paid a full price for Debenhams and would be forced to make stringent cuts to create the returns demanded by its private equity backers.

The department store chain has 104 shops, and employed 23,000 people ahead of today’s announcement.

Rob Templeman, the group’s new chief executive, announced the redundancies in London at 9.30am yesterday, while Chris Woodhouse, finance director, spoke to staff in the group’s finance office in Taunton.

Some staff were told to dial an 0800 number to listen to a recorded message explaining the reasons for the job cuts.

The message said: “Key areas of focus are to reduce borrowing, costs and create a faster moving business. To achieve these goals we are reviewing the current divisional structures and roles to create a more efficient business giving individuals greater autonomy and accountability.”

The head office job cuts are understood to be across the board including human resources, finance and IT.

Other staff have left of their own accord. Last week M&S poached Gillian Ridley, a head of women’s clothing, and Martin Wyke, information systems director, has resigned.

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