He said: “By increasing both 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 crisis is set to be exacerbated, experts say, because of a planned reduction in discounts for business rates, which is a property tax that affects high street firms.
The 75% discount to the levy is due to end on March 31, 2025, and will be replaced by a less generous discount of 40%.
The maximum discount will remain at £110,000.
Alex Probyn, president of property tax at real estate adviser Altus Group, told Sky News: “The cut in the business rates discount from April 1 will disproportionately affect independent retailers who will see their bills rise on average by 140% adding an extra £5,024 for the average shop.”
The group predicts that the change will save the Treasury money, but ultimately cost the retail sector an extra £688million.
It comes after figures revealed that 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. This is the highest total since more than 200,000 jobs in the sector were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of lockdowns during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Centre for Retail Research figures show a total of 169,395 retail roles were lost in the calendar year to date (December 29).
This is up 49,990, a 41.9% increase, compared with 2023.
