2025 to be ‘worst yr for prime avenue since Covid’ as ‘200,000 jobs to be reduce’
Businesses could be in trouble as we head into the new year, with experts predicting around 200,000 jobs could be lost and products will sky rocket in price – with the worst rate since the pandemic
Experts have revealed a bleak look at the high street, with figures suggesting 2025 will be the worst financial year for shops since the pandemic.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) carried out some research into shop and business closures on UK high streets. In their recent budget, Labour introduced new policies that are said could hit businesses hard. They said as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost next year due to higher business rates and employment costs, introduced by Rachel Reeves in November.
Recent figures say this could cause a whopping £7billion hit for high streets, which are already struggling. Currently across the UK, 38 stores close per day, which is a huge 6,945 high street shops by September 2024.
The new budget will mainly affect workers with lower pay, fewer staff and higher prices for customers. Businesses have already lost a total of 169,395 retail jobs lost this year – a 41.9% increase from 2023.
Not only that, high street giants have fallen into administration this year, including The Body Shop, Homebase and Carpetright. The Centre’s Professor Joshua Bamfield told This Is Money: “The problems of changed customer shopping habits, inflation, rising energy costs, rents and business rates forced many retailers to cut back even more strongly.
“By increasing 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.” As per the new budget, the business rate relief has been cut – something many businesses relied on.
While it has again been extended for the retail, hospitality and leisure sector, the rate has been cut. The rate previously stood at 75%, but will now be decreased to 40%.
Many UK businesses will feel the pinch as they face a near doubling of their rates bill for 2025/26. A business rates bill is decided by their property’s rateable value multiplied. All businesses will be impacted, but it will be particularly tough to independent and smaller companies, many that customers rely on daily.
Experts believe this will take us back to pandemic levels, which saw severe recession and an unprecedented drop in GDP like we have not seen for years. Adding to this, 345,000 businesses across the UK shut their doors in 2022 following huge Covid disruption.
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