National Living Wage
This coverage explores the implications of the National Living Wage for UK retailers, including its impact on staffing costs, operational decisions, and workforce management. Reporting highlights wage policy changes, employer responses, legal obligations, and strategies to balance compliance with commercial performance — providing insight for retail executives, HR managers, and business owners navigating wage legislation.
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Apr- 2025 -1 AprilNews-In-Brief
Today’s news in brief-1/4/25
Retailers are bracing for a £5.56bn rise in costs following the implementation of recent Budget measures, including higher National Insurance contributions and an increased minimum wage. According to Retail Economics, these changes will force businesses to absorb £1.76bn in profit losses while passing £1.72bn onto consumers through price hikes. Chancellor…
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1 AprilEconomy
Retailers face £5.6bn rise in costs as Budget comes into play
New research by Retail Economics, along with frontline specialist Yoobic, has found that retailers face a £5.56bn rise in costs from this week as changes from the Budget are enacted, The Telegraph has reported. The rising bills will reportedly cost shoppers £1.7bn over the next year as costs are passed…
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Mar- 2025 -31 MarchFeatures
Spring Budget 2025: what it means for the retail industry
The UK retail sector has been navigating a volatile economic landscape, with rising operational costs, shifts in consumer spending, and policy changes placing unprecedented pressure on businesses. The Spring Budget 2025, delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, was highly anticipated by industry leaders, who had hoped for measures that would alleviate…
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27 MarchHigh Street
Campaign urges Next, M&S and JD Sports to pay real living wage
The likes of Axa and Scottish Widows are backing campaign group ShareAction in its effort to make major high street retailers such as Next, M&S and JD Sports increase their staff’s pay in line with a real living wage, The Guardian has reported. News of this initiative comes as there’s…
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26 MarchEconomy
Chancellor resists calls for business relief in Spring Statement
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has resisted calls from businesses for relief ahead of the upcoming tax changes this April, as part of her Spring Statement today (26 March). UK businesses had been hopeful the chancellor would raise the relief rate for retail, hospitality, and leisure after cutting it to 40% in…
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26 MarchOnline & Digital
Virgin Wines targets £100m revenues through ‘turbocharging’ growth plan
Virgin Wines has unveiled plans to “turbocharge” its growth and deliver £100m in annual revenue over the next five years through a new growth strategy, whilst the group hailed a “resilient” performance in its H1 results. The plan, which aims to deliver this revenue growth at a 7% EBITDA margin,…
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20 MarchNews-In-Brief
Today’s news in brief-20/3/25
The UK retail sector has faced significant challenges over the past five years, with a quarter of a million jobs lost, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest data reveals a decline to 2.84 million retail jobs, marking a reduction of 70,000 compared to the previous year.…
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20 MarchEconomy
UK consumer confidence improves in March as Gen Z set to spend
UK consumer confidence improved slightly to -35 in March, up from -37 in February, the BRC has revealed. According to the latest BRC-Opinium data, personal spending on retail rose to 0 in March, up from -5 in February. Meanwhile, personal spending overall rose to +11 in March, up from +4…
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20 MarchEconomy
Quarter of a million retail jobs lost in five years, ONS finds
There are now 249,000 fewer retail jobs than there were five years ago, according to the latest data from the ONS. While there were 2.88 million jobs in retail in December 2024, that was only because it is traditionally the high point of the year for the sector due to…
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18 MarchSupermarkets
Tesco announces £180m investment in staff pay
Tesco has reached an agreement with trade union USDAW that will increase the hourly pay rate for staff in stores, from £12.02 to £12.45 from 30 March 2025, and again to £12.64 from the end of August. This two-stage rate increase represents an above-inflation increase of 5.2% builds on the…
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