The British Retail Consortium, Association of Convenience Stores, British Independent Retail Association, UKHospitality, and ukactive are warning about the risk to businesses, jobs, and the future of high streets without the implementation of necessary measures. These sectors together pay over £10bn in business rates annually.
A joint letter from the organizations warns of the potential ramifications of dramatic increases in business rates, stating, “An inflationary increase in the business rates multiplier and removal of reliefs would be disastrous for our sectors. It will mean business failures, job losses, and boarded up properties in our high streets, denying people their livelihoods and their social pleasures.”
According to a survey of BRC members, 66% of retailers expressed ‘very concerned’ about an increase in business rates, with 69% acknowledging that it would exert ‘significant pressure’ on the prices paid by customers. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), expressed, “Retailers are staring down the barrel of a £480m-a-year hike in their business rates bills from next Spring. Such a hefty increase will threaten to put renewed pressure on retail prices, as well as block new investment in our town and city centers. It is essential that the chancellor uses the Autumn Statement to freeze business rates and give our local communities a fighting chance to thrive.”
Andrew Goodacre, CEO of the British Independent Retail Association (BIRA), emphasized the challenges faced by independent retailers on the high street, urging the retention of the current 75% retail discount on business rates to protect smaller retailers from increased costs.
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), underscored the importance of ongoing support with the cost of business rates to incentivize investment in local high streets and shopping parades, urging the chancellor to maintain business rate reliefs and freeze any increase in business rates at the Autumn Financial Statement to support the continued growth of the £600m annual investment that local convenience stores make in their communities.
