The Facts - Protect Retail Jobs

The government promised to ‘level the playing field between the high street and online giants’. Their current plans fall well short of this promise.

Communities across the country will suffer from a further loss of retail jobs without urgent changes to government business rates plans.

The retail sector makes up 5% of UK GDP, providing 3m direct jobs and 2.7m more in the supply chain. Labour’s current business rates plans put these jobs at risk by disproportionately targeting bricks-and-mortar retail.
Retail businesses paid £33 billion in taxes in 2023, accounting for 7.4% of all business taxation, significantly larger than their proportionate size in the UK economy.
In 2023/24, the retail sector paid 21% of all UK business rates—paying a higher proportion of profits than any other sector. Forcing brick-and-mortar retail to shoulder more of this burden could put further retail jobs at risk.
Recent government measures included in the Autumn Budget will create an estimated £7bn in new costs for retailers in 2025, according to research by the BRC. These additional costs are likely to force retailers to make difficult decisions.
Whilst the Government’s ambition was to support the high street and keep retailers alive, a significant portion of their plans will be financed by brick-and-mortar retail. BRC analysis shows that this will ‘distort competition within the sector’, rather than deliver sustainable longterm growth.

Business Rates, Explained.

Business rates are taxes that are paid on non-domestic properties, such as shops, offices, and warehouses. The rates system has been identified as a regressive and outdated tax by
consecutive governments.

The government outlined plans to reform this system in their ‘Transforming Business Rates’ paper published in October 2024.

They outlined their intention to introduce permanently lower business rate multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value under £500,000 from April 2026-27. The government claimed that this would help the retail sector and revitalise our high streets.

However, to fund this lower rate, the Government has announced a higher multiplier on all properties with a rateable value of £500,000 and above. Around 4,000 stores sit within this rate.

Despite the pledge to level the playing field with online giants, the Government decision will directly impact brick-and-mortar retail, putting retail jobs at risk, stifling competition, and disincentivising growth within the sector. Increased costs on these stores will impact communities directly, undermining the government's pledge to save the high street.