Retail jobs at risk, BRC warns

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has compiled a report which raises concerns that the UK’s retail sector could face the loss of 900,000 jobs over the next ten years.

The report outlines that rising costs due to the National Living Wage and the new apprenticeship levy could speed up job cuts and lead to the closure of thousands of shops, with ‘economically fragile’ areas of the UK likely to be affected most.

The report warns that both the National Living Wage and the apprenticeship levy ‘have sound intentions but both could fail on implementation’. Currently, the retail sector employs three million people. However, the study predicts this number could fall by almost a third in less than a decade.

The research also calculated that of the 270,000 shops operating in the UK today, up to 74,000 could be closed, with nearly 30 per cent of closures occurring in Wales and the north of England.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “People are not realising just how significantly the workplace is changing and I think that is dangerous. It means that people assume that somehow things are going to carry on as they are, when that's unlikely.

The news comes as the National Living Wage is set to come in to force in April. The new regulations will mean that over-25s must be paid a rate of £7.20 per hour, replacing the present minimum wage of £6.70. Chancellor George Osborne has also informed that the standard wage will increase to £9 per hour by 2020.

The BRC claimed the increase would cost the industry up to £3 billion annually.

However the Treasury argued that the report’s findings were exaggerated. A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “The government is making sure workers in Britain get a pay rise by introducing the National Living Wage from April this year. We are already seeing record employment rates and more people in employment than ever before.

"And taking into account the National Living Wage, the independent Office of Budget Responsibility expects employment to rise by a further 1.1 million by 2020."