‘Almost 650,000 retail jobs lost over five years’

Almost 650,000 jobs have been lost in the UK’s retail sector over the past five years, according to new figures.

According to the Centre for Retail Research, 645,204 retail jobs have been lost and 72,580 stores closed across the whole of the UK during the five years since 2017.

The figures include 105,727 jobs lost last year as the continuation of the furlough scheme kept losses below previous years.

The stark figures come as high street firms face a significant increase in business rates after benefiting from tax breaks during the pandemic. Industry experts have been calling on the UK government for caution over business rates levels next year in order to protect the future of high streets.

In April 2023, a revaluation of around two million non-domestic properties for business rates in England will come into force. While revaluations do not create any extra money as they are designed to be revenue neutral, they do create winners and losers generating significant changes to tax liabilities, experts have said.

For the next revaluation, that will be the open market rental value on April 1 2021, based on an estimate by the Valuation Office Agency, an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Real estate adviser Altus Group has urged the government not to usher in large tax increases next year, with a consultation currently underway into arrangements for the 2023 business rates revaluation in England.

“Taking from those sectors and regions that have struggled, where rents have significantly dropped, would be foolhardy, affording them no respite to recover and rebuild,” reports quoting Robert Hayton, UK president at Altus Group, as saying.

“It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul and certainly doesn’t aid the levelling up of prosperity.”