As the punishing weight of inflation dominates daily life – and looks as if it will continue to for a long time yet – the government’s latest attempt to address the issue is the appointment of a cost-of-living tsar.
Just Eat co-founder David Buttress was brought on board in the unpaid role this week. There is no reason to doubt he will approach the challenge with goodwill and energy, but the creation of such a position sadly seems unlikely to herald much of significance.
Buttress was drafted in by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Steve Barclay, who is also Boris Johnson’s chief of staff. Barclay said that Buttress “will work in partnership with the private sector to identify, develop and promote new and existing business-led initiatives that support people with rising costs of living – from discounted prices or product offers to the expansion of business-run programmes”.
That sounds as if the headache of coming up with new responses is effectively being shifted onto businesses, while the mention of existing programmes is an acknowledgement of how much companies are already doing – without any input from the government or a tsar.
“Such campaigns are part and parcel of everyday retail. As their customers’ discretionary income is squeezed, retailers have frozen the prices of value lines, expanded low-price range availability and launched new assortments”
Price initiatives by retailers such as Boots and Sainsbury’s were specifically cited as “successful examples” of the type of measures businesses can take.
Such campaigns are part and parcel of everyday retail, and have of course been stepped up in the present tough environment. As their customers’ discretionary income is squeezed, retailers have frozen the prices of value lines, expanded low-price range availability and launched new assortments.
Take the John Lewis Partnership, for instance – one of a group of big names including the Co-op that attended a meeting following the appointment of the cost-of-living tsar. Over the past year, so predating his appointment, the retailer’s department store arm launched the Anyday value-for-money range.
Similarly, the Waitrose grocery division has already donated more than 10 million meals to FareShare as part of a longstanding partnership and the group donates more than £4m a year through its stores in response to local needs.
John Lewis would have done all that anyway, and many other retailers could say similar. That’s because they typically put their customers first – it is core to their competitive stance.
They do that all the time, in good times and bad. While it may make sense to work in partnership with the government and coordinate efforts where appropriate, it also brings the risk that the government will take the credit.
Shifting the emphasis of a cost-of-living response on to businesses such as retailers also fails to recognise that they face their own cost-of-living crunch as inflationary pressure plays out in everything from the supply chain to wages.
“While retailers are expected to do the heavy lifting for the public, where are the government initiatives to bring down the costs of doing business – with rates being an obvious example?”
Such pressures have already led to lowered profit expectations for some, with DFS and ProCook both citing the cost-of-living crisis in their respective profit warnings in the last week alone.
While retailers are expected to do the heavy lifting for the public, where are the government initiatives to bring down the costs of doing business – with rates being an obvious example?
On supply chain, the government previously brought in another tsar to advise – former Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, who took up the voluntary position late last year.
What happened as a result of his appointment? There has been no official word from the government of any change that his advice led to.
That’s not a criticism of him, but another reminder that the appointment of tsars, so far as anybody can tell, gives the impression that ‘something is being done’ by the government. Whether anything extra or different is being done, we don’t know.
As Barclay pointed out as he appointed Buttress, the government has directed £37bn into “cost-of-living support”. While some might dispute whether the speed and scale of the effort has been up to the challenge, it is not doing nothing. The government is there precisely to navigate the challenges facing the country. It is ultimately responsible for policy-making and must be judged by its success or otherwise.
But the creation of a cost-of-living tsar looks like spin more than substance, and there has been enough of that.
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