Retail workers are cautioned against bearing the burden of business rate reforms, as emphasized by a joint plea from Usdaw and the British Retail Consortium. The call is for the Chancellor to safeguard the sector and its workforce in the upcoming Budget. With nearly 3 million employed in British retail, the industry has faced significant challenges, leading to the loss of 350,000 jobs and the closure of over 10,000 shops in the last year.
The Labour Party has pledged to revamp business rates to revitalize high streets, proposing a permanent reduction for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties starting next year. However, to finance these changes, the Treasury is contemplating raising business rates for large non-domestic establishments like office buildings and banks, raising concerns about potential negative impacts on major retail outlets.
In a joint article for the Mirror, Usdaw’s General Secretary and the British Retail Consortium’s Chief Executive expressed worries that the proposed changes could adversely affect supermarkets and anchor stores, which employ a significant portion of retail staff and drive foot traffic to high streets. They highlighted the potential consequences, such as reduced employee hours, more closed shops, job losses, and ultimately, higher prices for consumers.
The plea to the government is to exclude shops from any new elevated business rates category and instead focus on increasing rates for large commercial properties. The emphasis is on maintaining fairness in the Autumn Budget, supporting quality jobs, and enhancing living standards without unfairly burdening retail workers. The Treasury has indicated its intention to establish a more equitable business rates system by introducing lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties, funded by higher rates on a small percentage of top-value business properties. Plans are also outlined to address issues in the system to aid small businesses in their expansion efforts.