A supermarket has confirmed 16 staff members have taken voluntary redundancy at one of its branches.

Workers at Waitrose in Hythe decided to quit their roles after they were offered the payout by the retailer.

Bosses say they were allowed to take voluntary redundancy as staffing levels exceeded the firm’s business requirements.

And they also confirmed there are no plans to close the store.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: “We want to provide the very best service to our customers and this means having the right amount of Partners doing the right tasks at the right time.

“We had some over-contracted hours at Waitrose Hythe, where staffing levels exceeded our business requirements.

“Some Partners were given the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy.

“We fully supported these Partners throughout.”

The firm says staff were consulted with and received a redundancy package upon leaving the company.