BRC calls for freeze on business rates

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling on the Government to freeze business rates for two years to “ease pressure” on retailers, which it states are currently “under significant cost pressures”.

The retail body said in a statement that that the current system was “unsustainable”, and the “disproportionate burden” was leading to store closures, as well as getting in the way of modernising and reinventing the UK’s high streets.

The BRC states that the retail industry is the UK’s largest private sector employer, making up 5 percent of the economy and paying nearly 25 percent of the overall business rates bill, which totals more than 7 billion pounds per year.

However, it adds that the pressure of dealing with increasing costs, from government policies such as the Apprenticeship Levy and National Living Wage, is putting a strain on the industry, and that there are nearly 2,500 fewer retail stores in the UK than there were three years ago, and since 2014 there have been more than 3,200 retail insolvencies in the UK and a series of high-profile company voluntary arrangements.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said in a statement: “The current business rates system is not fit for purpose. It is a 20th-century answer to a 21st-century problem. Retail shoulders far more than its fair share, and the rates bill is leading to store closures and getting in the way of reinvention of our high streets.

“We’re calling on government to freeze business rates until the 2021 revaluation to relieve the burden of this unfair tax on retail businesses and allow time for dialogue about the wholesale modernisation of business taxation. This would be welcome government support for the country’s largest private sector employer at a critical time.”

In the statement the BRC insists that “fundamental reform” is needed on the business rates system and must be considered as part of a wholesale modernisation of business taxation.

The retail body is proposing a two-year freeze in business rate increases, which it said would take some of the cost pressure off retailers, while allowing time for a dialogue between government and industry to develop a proposal for a modern business taxation system that it says would support business growth and improves productivity.