Retail businesses will have to find an extra £1.7bn next year to pay for business rates, in line with September’s 6.7% rate of inflation.
Alongside a rise in business rates in line with inflation, retail, leisure and hospitality businesses could face even more pain next year as the post-Covid support scheme is due to come to an end.
Business rates bills generate around £25bn a year for the Treasury but many businesses, including retailers, have been calling for meaningful reform of the system for years and have largely been left disappointed by government inaction.
In September, the bosses of 44 UK retailers such as Tesco, Aldi, Ikea, Greggs and Marks & Spencer wrote to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt calling for business rates to be frozen in the autumn statement next month.
“An increase in costs at this level could lead to upward pressure on prices,” the retailers warned. “Just as shop price inflation has begun to ease”.
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