Before making this point, let’s be perfectly clear: I was among those who expected the Co-op to repay its business rates relief this week. 

In the build-up to its full-year results on Thursday, it appeared odds-on that a business that prides itself on its values, its work in communities and doing things ‘the Co-op way’ would bow to mounting pressure and hand back the cash given to it by the government during the coronavirus crisis.

I was as shocked as anyone when the mutual instead said that it would hand back the £15.5m it received from the government through the furlough scheme, but not the tens of millions in additional support it has been given in business rates relief since the start of the pandemic last March.  

Surprised? Yes. Angry? Certainly not.

The Co-op, along with other big grocers such as Marks & Spencer and Waitrose that decided not to hand back business rates relief, do not deserve to be vilified for that decision. 

It was, and still is, exactly that: relief. It was never a loan that businesses should have planned to repay once the peak of the emergency had passed. It was willingly given to all retailers by the government during the coronavirus crisis.

Ever since that policy was unveiled, a debate has raged as to whether or not grocers should have been offered such fiscal support in the first place.

In the red corner are those who believe rates relief should have only been given to the ‘non-essential’ businesses that were forced to close their physical stores during national lockdowns.

In the blue corner, increasingly in the minority it seems, are those who pointed out the significant additional costs that food retailers had to take on in order to feed the nation at the height of the pandemic: the procuring of PPE and hand sanitiser; the installation of plastic screens at checkouts; the addition of one-way and social-distancing signage throughout the aisles; the hiring of tens of thousands of additional staff; and the rapid expansion of online delivery capabilities.

Both points of view have their merits, but I stand firmly in the blue corner.

“I’m not criticising those businesses for handing back their rates relief, but the question I ask is: where have those billions returned to the government now gone?”

It was Tesco that started the rates repayment ball rolling last December, of course, blindsiding the rest of the retail industry with its decision to hand back £585m to the government.

The grocer is no longer a part of the British Retail Consortium, but its decision to make such a surprise statement is thought to have taken aback a chunk of the BRC membership.

Tesco’s decision heightened pressure on its big-four grocery rivals in particular, all of whom quickly followed suit. Aldi, Lidl, Kingfisher, B&M and Pets at Home were among the others that also fell in line in the weeks that followed. 

I’m not for one second criticising those businesses for handing back their rates relief, but the question I ask is: where have those billions returned to the government now gone?

Have they been invested into retail in the way the Treasury had initially planned via the rates relief programme?

Will that money be benefiting retail’s frontline colleagues or the communities these retailers serve to the same extent as it could otherwise have done? 

In the heat of this debate, it could be argued that that the Co-op has used its business rates relief for exactly those purposes.  

During the 51 weeks to January 2, the Co-op handed £12m to charities and community causes, while £15m more was dished out to 4,500 projects via its Local Community Fund.

“The Co-op hiked the pay of more than 30,000 store staff – the equivalent of a £53m annual investment – and gave out £25m in bonuses to reward their efforts during the pandemic”

Food vouchers and tech equipment worth more than £3m were provided to thousands of children studying at Co-op Academies.

The Co-op hiked the pay of more than 30,000 store staff – the equivalent of a £53m annual investment – and gave out £25m in bonuses to reward their efforts during the pandemic. 

That spending alone, without taking into account other Covid-related costs, amounts to more than £100m – easily outstripping the £66.5m in government support the mutual has opted to hold on to.  

The rates issue has been made more controversial by the fact that Co-op executives are still set to receive bonuses.

But these are the same executives who have successfully steered their business through 12 of the toughest months they are ever likely to face as retail leaders and managed to come out the other side at the helm of a business looking stronger and increasingly multichannel. 

And let’s not forget that chief executive Steve Murrells and food boss Jo Whitfield have driven positive change, not just for the wider retail industry, but for families across the UK with their vocal campaigning alongside footballer Marcus Rashford on free school meals. They also took the fight to Parliament to offer store staff better protection against violence and abuse.

If those efforts aren’t worthy of bonuses, I’m not quite sure what is.

The Co-op and its fellow grocers are not the villains here. Whether or not they are repaying rates, they have been heroes of the crisis – and we must remember that.