Retailers faced up to a grim reality this week. They now know the financial blow they will take as a consequence of the Government’s policy to link business rates to September’s RPI.

Retailers faced up to a grim reality this week. They now know the scale of the financial blow they will take as a consequence of the Government’s policy to link its annual business rates review to September’s Retail Prices Index (RPI). And it’s a burden that will further damage the industry’s ability to invest in growth, create jobs and restore life to our high streets.

Unless the Exchequer can be convinced otherwise, an eye-watering £175m will be added to the retail sector’s rates bill next spring, after the September RPI hit 2.6%. The fact the number falls slightly shy of our worst fears will be little relief for shop owners, who have already absorbed more than £500m in increases in the past two years.

And today retailers were dealt a further when the Government revealed its plans to postpone the revaluation of business rates from 2015 to 2017.

Retail Week’s Fair Rates for Retail campaign, run in conjunction with the BRC, has received great support since we launched it three weeks ago. Hundreds of individuals, representing and leading businesses across the industry, have signed our petition to freeze rates and review the way they are determined.

But this week’s news must act as a spur to increase the pressure on the Government. The BRC is campaigning hard on the sector’s behalf and Retail Week will continue to mobilise support and publicise the debate. However, momentum is the key to forcing change and for that we need the industry to do its part, by signing our petition, writing to MPs and joining the debate on social media.

Few sectors take their responsibility to British society more seriously than retail, whether it is strengthening ties in local communities, acting as the largest private-sector employer in the country, or contributing on an enormous scale to the nation’s coffers. The Government must be made to recognise that retail already pays its way and another hike could have severe consequences.

This campaign is a chance to say “enough is enough”.

 

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