Britain’s biggest retailers have warned nearly half-a-million shop floor workers could be sacked in the next three years.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S are among a number of the UK’s largest employers warning the Treasury about the future of the industry.
The group, which also includes Asda, Primark and B&Q, said a ‘perfect storm’ of higher costs and red tape could lead to 300,000 job cuts.
Lay-offs could be even higher than that, the Retail Jobs Alliance (RTA) warned, because their forecasts did not include measures imposed in the last Budget.
The alliance represents a third of all Brits working in retail and is campaigning against government plans to hike business rates on larger shops.
In Labour’s first Autumn Budget, they announced changes to business rates which included lowering the relief on the tax from 75 per cent, will decrease to 40 per cent this April.
The tax is also due for a rise in 2026.
Thousands of Britain’s most visited stores would also be under threat from this potential tax blow, the retailers said.
Rami Baitieh, chief executive of Morrisons, said: ‘Supermarkets are grappling with rising costs and steep taxes. Now we face the prospect of even higher business rates.
‘We’d urge the Government to rethink its plans and protect all shops from a damaging new rates hike which would hit jobs and the high street.’
The group also predict that a higher national insurance bill and a new recycling tax will endanger jobs.
Businesses could be facing a tax bill £4.5bn larger than previous years, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
(Pictures: REUTERS)
£2bn of this is down to a new packaging levy, while £2.33bn comes from the rise in national insurance contributions.
The UK’s major supermarkets have already been making sweeping job cuts in 2025.
Tesco laid off 400 employees last month to “simplify” the business.
These cuts mainly impacted several head office management roles, management in Tesco Mobile phone shops and staff at its in-store bakeries.
Sainsbury’s also revealed over 300 job losses as the company tries to combats rising costs.
A Treasury spokesman said: ‘We delivered a once-in-a-Parliament Budget to wipe the slate clean.
‘Now we are focused on going further and faster to kickstart economic growth so working people have more money in their pockets.
‘We’re levelling the playing field for high street businesses by permanently cutting business rates and removing the £110,000 cap for over 280,000 retail, hospitality and leisure business properties, while also capping corporation tax.’
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