Selfridges is imposing a pay freeze on all its staff as the upmarket department store chain takes a cautious approach to costs in light of the recession.

Normally salaries at the business, which has stores on Oxford Street, in Birmingham and two in Manchester, are reviewed in February with the rises coming through in April.

But staff are expected to be told today that there will be no pay rise this spring, although the company will say it will look at the situation again in August.

Selfridges has performed solidly, helped by the large number of overseas visitors to London thanks to the weakness of the pound. Like-for-likes rose 5 per cent in December and profits to the end of January are thought to have exceeded last year’s£84m.

However, it has already shown its willingness to improve efficiencies for the tougher times, and three weeks ago Retail Week revealed it had begun a consultation period over redundancies with 10 per cent of its 400 head office staff.

“The business is in good shape but like any business, we have to look at everything we do because of the uncertain times we’re in,” a Selfridges spokeswoman said.

Topics