Business Rates

Early signs of footfall recovery ahead of festive trading, BRC finds

The retail sector experienced early signs of footfall recovery in November as total UK footfall decreased by 0.7% in November(YoY), an improvement on -5.7% in October, according to the latest data from the BRC. High Street footfall decreased by 1.7%, an improvement on -4.6% in October, whereas Retail Parks again…

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Chancellor cuts National Insurance to 10% alongside NLW rise

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a series of measures to help boost the UK economy as part of his Autumn Budget including slashing National Insurance by 2% and freezing business rates for retail and hospitality. As part of the new measures, Hunt revealed that National Insurance will be cut from…

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BRC welcomes government pledge to bring down inflation

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed the government’s pledge to bring down inflation as outlined in the King’s Speech yesterday (7 November). However, the body has criticised the decision to omit retail crime from its pledge for future crime legislation. As part of his speech the King announced that…

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Shop vacancies fall for third quarter in a row

In the second quarter of 2022, the overall GB vacancy rate decreased to 14.0%, which was 0.1 percentage points better than Q1 and 0.5 percentage points better than the same period last year, according to the BRC. This was the third consecutive quarter of falling vacancy rates. All locations saw…

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Cost of living crisis starts to impact sales, BRC finds

On a total basis, sales decreased by 1.0% in June, against an increase of 10.4% in June 2021, according to the latest figures from BRC’s sales monitor. This is below the three-month average decline of 0.8% and the 12-month average growth of 3.0%. UK retail sales decreased 1.3% on a…

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Spring Statement: Chancellor raises NI threshold to £12,570

The chancellor has outlined a series of measures to help combat the rising cost of living in his latest spring statement, including increasing the national insurance threshold by £3,000.  Speaking in parliament today (23 March), Rishi Sunak began his speech by warning it is yet unclear what the impact of…

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Retail sales monitor shows ‘cause for optimism’, Bira says

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has said there is “cause for optimism” after the recent BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor for February 2022 which revealed that UK retail sales increased 2.7% on a Like-for-like basis from February 2021. According to the BRC the performance comes on top of an improved…

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Footfall improves during October

October footfall saw a “noticeable improvement” to -13.4% lower than in 2019 compared with -17.4% in September, according to the latest figures from Springboard. The final week of the month, which included the October school half term, was “pivotal” in boosting footfall, shifting the average from -14.3% over the first…

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Chancellor unveils 50% rates discount for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a 50% discount on business rates for the hospitality, retail and leisure sectors (up to £110,000), equating to a business tax cut worth £1.7bn, the biggest single-year rates cut for firms in over 30 years. Unveiling his latest Budget in the Commons today (27 October),…

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Over 40 employee groups pen letter urging Sunak to cut business rates

The CBI, along with 41 trade associations spanning the UK economy, have issued a joint statement urging the chancellor Rishi Sunak to reform the business rates system and “unleash a wave of business investment across key government priorities, including net zero and levelling up”. The joint statement from businesses is…

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