Discount grocery chain Aldi has said this morning it will pay back over £100m in business rates relief, becoming the fourth grocer to do so in 24 hours.
In a short statement, Aldi said it would return the full value of tax breaks received during the pandemic to the UK government and devolved administrations, following Morrisons’ announcement last night and Sainsbury’s this morning.
Aldi UK chief executive Giles Hurley said: “Thanks to our amazing colleagues, we have been able to remain open during lockdowns and despite the increased costs we have incurred during the pandemic, we believe returning the full value of our business rates relief is the right decision to help support the nation. Our continued investment for our colleagues and our customers will remain unchanged.”
The UK’s largest grocer, Tesco, was the first of the essential retailers to commit to returning business rates relief yesterday, announcing it would repay the £585m it had received in full.
Aldi becomes the first grocer outside of the big four to commit to repaying the tax relief, putting further pressure on discounter rival Lidl and big-four holdout Asda.
A source close to Asda said it would only be a matter of time before it followed suit. There has been no official comment from Lidl on the issue.
Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and now Aldi will have together voluntarily returned over £1.3bn in tax breaks to the government.
Retail Week understands Waitrose, the food arm of department store chain John Lewis, will not return its business rates reliefs due to the poor performance of its parent. Sainsbury’s has kept back around £10m in relief due to the closure of its non-essential Argos stores.
Research by Altus Group estimated essential retailers like the grocers and some non-food businesses such as B&M, Halfords and Boots collectively received more than £3bn in relief this year.
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