THE future of many members of staff facing redundancy at a Marks and Spencer warehouse was looking bleak this week despite a local MP’s reassurances that the company was offering retraining and help to find new jobs.

More than 400 will be made redundant from the Exel distribution centre in Longfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, in September and there have been lengthy negotiations to secure "settlement packages" for staff who will face financial difficulties if they are unable to find alternative jobs.

The warehouse is owned by Exel but is used exclusively for the distribution of M&S stock except food. It is one of 10 warehouses serving M&S stores in the UK.

Greg Clark, Tory MP for Tunbridge Wells said the staff were being offered retraining and help with finding jobs and their prospects are bright.

But he added: "A lot of the jobs are retail and clerical and so staff whose skills are in warehouse will be difficult to absorb. There is low unemployment in Tunbridge Wells but that is no reason to be complacent."

A spokesman for the stockholders who is negotiating with M&S on the severance pay for 350 stockhandlers, said: "Many of the employees are aged 50-plus. Some of them are husband and wife who have worked at the warehouse for a very long time. Naturally they are worried that they won’t be able to pay the domestic bills."

Tunbridge Wells Borough Cllr Mary Lewis, the Liberal Democrat for St James Ward, said: "It is part of the national shrinking of Marks and Spencer and one of the sad effects we are having to face in Tunbridge Wells."

The warehouse was opened 17 years ago. Its future is not known.