- Labour’s business policies could be even deadlier than pandemic
- CRR predicts as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost next year
- More than 400 retail jobs had been lost every day this year by mid-November
More than 550 retail jobs are set to be lost per day in 2025 as firms grapple with Rachel Reeves’s Budget.
Bleak forecasting from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) suggests that Labour’s business policies could be even deadlier than the pandemic for the High Street.
The CRR predicts as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost next year due to higher business rates and employment costs. The new worrying data comes after the Mail revealed that more than 400 retail jobs had been lost every day this year by mid-November.
The sector is braced for a £7billion hit from Labour’s decisions in the spring. Retailers have warned this will result in lower pay, fewer staff and higher prices. Businesses are already struggling with a total of 169,395 retail jobs lost this year – a 41.9 per cent leap compared with 2023.
Some 38 major retailers fell into administration this year, including Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase and The Body Shop.
The Centre’s Professor Joshua Bamfield said: ‘The problems of changed customer shopping habits, inflation, rising energy costs, rents and business rates forced many retailers to cut back even more strongly.’
Bleak: Some 38 major retailers fell into administration this year, including Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase and The Body Shop
And he warned 2025 could be even worse. ‘By increasing the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.’
The Chancellor has also come under fire for failing to reform the business rates regime clobbering the High Street.
Alex Probyn, from the real estate adviser Altus Group, said: ‘The cut in the business rates discount from April 1 will disproportionately affect independent retailers.’
The issue has been highlighted by the Mail’s Save Our High Streets campaign, with leading retailers calling for urgent reform of business rates.
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