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The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the latest budget could cause inflation and job losses, in a draft letter seen by Sky News.
In the draft, the BRC estimated that the National Insurance changes would increase retailers’ tax burden by £2.3bn annually.
It also argued that the number of part-time workers in the sector would have a disproportionately significant impact on its tax bill.
The trade body also warned that business rate reforms were insufficient to offset the extra costs imposed on its members by the budget.
The draft said: “The sheer scale of new costs in the Autumn Budget and the speed with which they occur, together with costs from a raft of other regulation, create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty,” the draft letter said.
“The estimated industry cost of the National Living Wage uplift is £2.7bn, and business rates bills will increase by £140m in April 2025, reflecting September’s rate of inflation, and businesses receiving the RHL discount will see this reduce from 75% to 40%.”
It added: “These costs are alongside other complex regulation, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the deposit return scheme for drinks (DRS), which together will cost the industry some £2bn and also crystallise during 2025, and an estimated £300m – £800m in 2026 and beyond from the implementation of the Employment Rights Bill, based on data in the government’s own impact assessment of the Bill.”
