Tesco is trialling shorter opening hours at some Express stores, closing at 10pm rather than 11pm, after being hit by a £235million rise in staff costs from Rachel Reeves's tax raid.
Britain's biggest supermarket is understood to be testing reduced hours at less profitable stores, which have been internally dubbed "Express Lite" shops.
The changes come after the Chancellor's Budget took effect in April, with employers now paying National Insurance equivalent to 15 per cent of workers' pay packets, up from 13.8 per cent previously.
The threshold at which the tax kicks in has also fallen from earnings of £9,100 a year to £5,000.
Tesco is trialling shorter opening hours at some Express stores, closing at 10pm rather than 11pm, after being hit by a £235m rise in staff costs from Rachel Reeves's tax raid
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Tesco is also expected to have fewer staff running the stores when they are open.
A Tesco spokesman said the changes were designed to "make things simpler for our colleagues and to ensure that we are running these shops in the most efficient way".
Workers have been told the trial is taking place in a small number of stores.
Ken Murphy, Tesco's chief executive, said in April that the supermarket would strip out about £500m of costs in the coming financial year to offset the Budget hit.
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Britain's biggest supermarket is understood to be testing reduced hours at less profitable stores, which have been internally dubbed 'Express Lite' shops
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He urged Reeves to avoid increasing retailers' costs further, saying: "All we're saying as an industry is, don't make it too hard for us to keep delivering great value."
Union leaders have voiced concerns over the "Express Lite" changes.
Daniel Adams, Usdaw national officer, said the union "has not agreed this change and we will be monitoring the trials closely to assess the impact on our members".
He added: "The union has repeatedly raised issues with the business around the risks of low staffing and retain significant concerns around how this trial will work."
The changes come after the Chancellor's Budget took effect in April
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Tesco is understood to be speaking to affected staff about potential transfers to other stores.
The minimum wage also rose by 6.7 per cent in April, with retailers facing £7bn of extra costs following Reeves's Budget, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Other businesses are shutting earlier to counter increased staff costs.
In April, pubs were calling last orders earlier, closing at 9pm rather than 11pm.
The efficiency drive comes amid mounting pressure from rival Asda, which kicked off a price war to win back shoppers.
Allan Leighton, the Asda chairman, said last week that the supermarket had opened up a gap with Tesco on prices and would continue cutting prices on some items, while raising prices of other goods more slowly.
Tesco warned in April that its profits would fall as much as 14 per cent this year as it prepares to invest £400m in price cuts.
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