Responding to the Chancellor's Spring Forecast last week, Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said the figures "underline the scale of the economic challenge – growth is fragile, unemployment has climbed to 5.2% and is expected to rise, and businesses are cutting back.
"While household finances may improve later in the Parliament, the immediate risk is to jobs, especially in retail. At a time when job vacancies are falling and confidence is weak, the priority should be protecting employment and strengthening living standards.
“Instead, retailers face a cost of doing business crisis. Employment costs rose by more than £5b last year, and poorly implemented reforms in the Employment Rights Act risk adding further cost and complexity at the worst possible moment. Reforms must raise standards without deterring hiring.
“The Chancellor spoke about boosting investment in communities. Our high streets are the backbone of local economies, yet business rates continue to undermine their viability. While Government has taken some steps to fix the current system, it is broken and must be overhauled entirely to reduce the burden on the high street once and for all.
“Retail has unparalleled reach across the country, and stands ready to work with the Government to ‘spread’ and ‘unlock’ opportunity in every part of Britain. But to do so, Government must get a grip on the cost of doing business so retailers can invest confidently in people, places and prices”.
Read a summary of the forecast here.
