Tesco has announced redundancies and wide-ranging changes to staffing at stores across the country.

Some staff face large reductions in their hours as the company reduces late-night staffing.

Some stores that currently open around the clock will see an end to 24-hour opening.

Staff whose jobs are affected wll initially be offered other roles in their store, or other stores, but some may choose redundancy or be left with no other option.

On the 'Very Little Helps' online forum, used by many Tesco employees, a number of claims were made by people who said they worked for the supermarket firm.

Some said that night-shift workers were having their weekly hours cut from 37 to 22.

One wrote: "I'm a single mum with two kids as well. Totally devastated. Used to work on days. Not long went to nights. Can't see me sleeping tonight."

Another said: "Nights still safe in my store, but non food aren't. Feel terrible for my colleagues that are affected. Think it'll come to us all eventually."

Another wrote: "How is it fair that some stores are cutting the night crews and others are free to stay as they are!! Just do it across the board in interest of fairness instead of screwing people over and upsetting them."

Another said: "Although not unexpected, I'm absolutely livid at the cold and callous way in which the company have treated long serving loyal members with exemplary records.

"It's impossible to console those in shock, angry with tears in their eyes. The restructure was bad enough, but with no full time prospects and a lifestyle balance thrown out the window these lovely people are now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea."

In a message to staff, Tesco chief executive Matt Davies wrote: "Earlier this year, we announced some changes to help us run some of our stores a little more simply, while also improving the shopping trip for our customers.

"As part of this work, I wanted to let you know that this week we are announcing changes across many of our large stores.

"This includes changing the time we replenish our shelves from nights to the daytime or twilight, and the reduction in trading hours in some of our 24-hour stores.

"In some stores, it also involves bringing together different customer service desks so that shoppers can get everything they need in one place and simplifying a lot of the tasks – such as the way we approach our General Merchandise operations.

"Where we have already made similar changes earlier in the year, we have started to see the benefits of this simpler way of serving our customers – it’s freeing up more time to focus on serving our customers and ensuring our stores are at their best when they’re at their busiest.

"We do recognise that these are big changes which could be disruptive for many of our colleagues. We want to be open and upfront about what will be happening – our first priority will always be to make sure colleagues hear about these changes from us first, and we will work hard to support colleagues who are affected."

Tony Hoggett, Tesco UK chief operating officer, said today: “We’re making some changes in a number of our stores to help us run them more simply and deliver the best possible service for customers.

"We understand this may be disruptive for some of our colleagues and where there have been changes to a colleague’s role we will be working really hard to ensure they are fully supported.”