IT will be next spring before workers at Wilkinson stores across the region discover if their jobs are at risk.

It was claimed over the weekend that the discount chain, which has nine shops in the North-East and one in North Yorkshire, may shed up to 1,500 jobs next year if it adopts a new stock supply system.

A company spokesman yesterday said it would be spring before it was known if the trial of the system had been successful.

The system has initially been tested at three stores and has now been extended to another 33 Wilkinson branches across the Midlands and Yorkshire.

It reduces the number of times stock needs to be handled in store as well as the volume of stock a branch holds. If adopted across the company, it will result in a reduction in the number of posts needed to perform these functions.

Wilkinson said it was doing everything it could – including freezing external recruitment – to ensure any redundancies were kept to a minimum.

It also stressed that the possible cuts were not connected to the current squeeze on the high street.

A spokesman said: “An important issue is that it is nothing to do with the credit crunch or state of the high street. We are in a good position in the current climate.

“It is employees who work in stock control who may be affected – if this trial is successful and if it is rolled out nationwide – there are a lot of ifs.

“We have put a freeze on recruitment and together with natural wastage in 2009 we would be in a position to protect jobs.”

The spokesman said it was impossible to say at this time how many workers would be affected in the region, but added: “We are going to do anything we can to minimise any redundancies, that is important. We don’t want anybody to worry about their jobs at this point.

“It is impossible to say regionally at this stage, we will have a better feel in the spring.”

Staff at the retailer’s 312 stores and their trade union have been briefed about the proposed changes to the way stock is replenished.

The spokesman added: “The company has commenced early and open discussions with its recognised union, the GMB, so that affected team members will benefit well in advance from priority consideration for alternative posts as they become available.”

The GMB’s representative for Wilkinson workers in the region could not be contacted for comment last night.

The company employs about 25,000 people nationally and has stores in Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Stockton, Peterlee, Chester-le-Street, York, Seaham, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Gateshead.