A leading convenience store owners body is gearing up its campaign to put pressure on the government to ease burden and introduce business rates reform for small businesses.
Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) on Friday (Aug 29) reiterated its call for retailers to write to their local MPs and urge them to take action on business rates in the Autumn Budget.
Ahead of the Budget, ACS is calling on the Government to:
• Set new RHL multipliers 20p lower than standard and small business multipliers to offset cost pressures and support investment.
• Index Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) thresholds to reflect rising rateable values, ensuring businesses don’t lose support simply due to inflation.
• Extend and expand Improvement Relief from 12 months to three years and include plant & machinery and security systems (like CCTV) to encourage investment in energy efficiency and store safety.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said, “Convenience stores play a vital role in their local communities, from providing access to essential products and services, secure employment opportunities and acting as a social hub for their customers.
"However, many of these businesses are facing increases in their rates bills and these bills are putting a massive strain on retailers and ultimately, there are local shops facing closure due to increasing costs in areas they cannot control, and in the context of a tough trading environment.
“We are urging retailers to write to their local MP to highlight the issues that their businesses are facing and to ask them to support our calls for urgent action to create a fairer system which will help hard-pressed businesses to keep their doors open and encourage investment in these community lifelines.”
Meanwhile, retail bosses of larger supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Asda have also written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for urgent action in the Autumn Budget to help ease mounting pressures on the sector.
In a joint letter - also signed by trade bodies including the Federation of Independent Retailers, Scottish Grocers’ Federation and British Independent Retailers Association, the retailers warn that government policy changes this year alone have added £7 billion in new costs to retail businesses.
These include higher employer National Insurance contributions, rising employment costs, and the introduction of new packaging taxes. The added burden, they argue, is filtering through supply chains and contributing to renewed food price inflation.