The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed the extension of key business funding schemes in the budget, saying the announcement provides some targeted support to struggling businesses across the country. “However, for many retailers the devil will be in the detail, with caps on funding limiting access to this support,” it said in a statement.

“Retail accounts for over three million jobs, spread across every region of the UK; supporting the success of our industry will be essential to unlocking consumer spending and driving forward the UK’s economic recovery. The Chancellor must keep the situation under review, as we wait to see how the economy responds to reopening,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.

“The Chancellor has taken steps to avoid the business rates cliff edge on 1 April, and the three-month extension will provide essential funding at this challenging time. Beyond this point, relief is capped at only £2m for closed businesses, a tiny fraction of their total liability. Without further funding, it is likely that many ‘non-essential’ retailers will struggle under sluggish consumer demand and high COVID costs,” he said.

“Restart grants provide a vital injection of funding during this extremely challenging period. No businesses have remained untouched by the pandemic and we welcome this cash to help ‘non-essential’ retailers improve safety measures, build up stocks, and prepare for reopening. However, the Chancellor gave no clarity on EU state aid rules—if these continue to apply to grants for closed businesses, then many larger companies, employing hundreds of thousands of people, will miss out on millions of pounds of vital support,” he added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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