Responding to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Helen
Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said:
“Retailers and their customers have been sold out
by the Chancellor’s statement, which does not do enough to
support shops, shoppers, and an industry that employs over three
million people, and many more across its supply chains. As we
enter the Christmas period, this Autumn Statement will serve only
to renew inflationary pressures that ultimately harm households.
“The Chancellor has poured fuel on the fire spreading across our
high streets with a tax hike on shops and other businesses. His
decision to increase the business rates standard multiplier will
cost retailers hundreds of millions every year. Rather than
introduce the meaningful reforms that were promised in the
Government’s 2019 manifesto, the Chancellor is now letting the
tax spiral out of control, driving up costs just as retailers’
efforts to curb inflation have started to bear fruit. This tax
hike comes at a time when retail sales volumes have hit their
lowest level in two years. Yet business rates must be paid in
full before a business sells a single product or service. This
flawed tax continues to wreak havoc on our town and city centres,
closing shops and costing jobs. And with the Chancellor
introducing the largest increase to National Living Wage on
record, retailers are under ever increasing cost pressures, even
as the Government withdraws its support.
“The extension to the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief and
the freezing of the Small Business Multiplier is a gesture of
support to high streets and while it may help some smaller
businesses, it does nothing for those retailers that provide the
lion’s share of employment, investment, and low-cost essentials
for customers. The Chancellor has done little to prevent the
decline of our town and city centres and his decision will see
thousands of stores pushed into the red, jeopardising their
commercial viability. This will lead to inevitable consequences
for shops and jobs on high streets, right across the country.
“The country needs wholesale reform of our broken business rates
system. Retailers pay over £7 billion a year in business rates –
over 22% of the total raised by the tax. This must not continue;
it is imperative that we see parties commit to reforming the
broken business rates system in their manifestos for the next
General Election, and to lowering the disproportionate burden
that this tax has on the retail industry.”
-ENDS-
The Chancellor announced:
- 6.7% increase to headline business rates
- Freeze on small business multiplier
- One year extension of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief.
This relief provides only minimal relief for medium and large
retailers.
