There’s no getting away from it – this has been a bruising week for retail.

Some of the high street’s biggest names including John Lewis, Harrods and Arcadia have revealed plans to shut stores and axe jobs, while others including TM Lewin have tumbled into administration.

Boris Johnson

Source: Number 10

Boris Johnson admitted this week ‘the jobs many people had in January are not coming back’

When other industries or companies have suffered such pain, the government has often lept into action to offer help and support.

Once again, there is little sign of such a response for retail, despite the wide-ranging impact that such job losses and high street turbulence will have. 

It must be acknowledged that the government has stepped up to the plate during coronavirus, shelling out more than £100bn in furlough payments, loans and business rates holidays to help keep companies across all industries afloat. The help they have afforded to business has gone above and beyond that seen in many other countries and, for that, Boris Johnson and his cabinet deserve to be applauded.

But it’s becoming clear all of this has proven to be too little, too late for dozens of retailers and their workforces that have been overlooked and undervalued by Westminster for too long.

This week has highlighted the extent of the challenges retail faces. Today, Primark revealed that, even with the government’s financial support, it haemorrhaged £800m in the 12 weeks to May 23. The value fashion giant is one of the lucky ones to have a cash-rich parent company, Associated British Foods, propping it up during the pandemic. Others are not so fortunate and had to cut their cloth accordingly.

Absent government

Yesterday, John Lewis chair Dame Sharon White warned that some of its stores may never reopen and jobs could be lost as a result. Analysts expect the number of roles to be in the hundreds.  

On what proved to be a black Wednesday for retail jobs, fellow department store business Harrods said it was shedding almost 700 of its 4,800 workers, while Topshop owner Arcadia revealed plans to axe 500 of its 2,500 head office staff. 

The moves came just 24 hours after menswear specialist TM Lewin and furniture chain Harveys were rescued in pre-pack administration deals that resulted in a combined 840 redundancies.

“Retail job losses have been accelerated rather than sparked by the crisis. That direction of travel has been clear for years”

Unlike other industries, however, these are not simply ‘coronavirus casualties’. 

The jobs being lost across industries such as aviation have been sparked solely by the pandemic. The likes of Airbus, EasyJet and British Airways owner IAG would not have needed to restructure so radically and make such severe job cuts had coronavirus not stopped to international travel.

Retail job losses, on the other hand, have been accelerated rather than sparked by the crisis. That direction of travel has been clear for years. The government had been warned by business leaders and lobbied by the British Retail Consortium on plenty of occasions in the bid to secure much-needed help.

But where was the government when countless calls to overhaul the archaic business rates system went unheard? Where is the “fundamental review” of that tax that has been promised for so long and is apparently underway? 

Where was the government when it was told that the apprenticeship levy wasn’t working

And where was the government’s offer of funding or training to help provide retail workers with the new skills they will require in a world of ‘fewer, better jobs’?

Its coronavirus bailouts have come too late for many and the stark and unfortunate reality is that there will be more store closures and job losses in the weeks and months that follow.

Cry for help

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband, now shadow business secretary, suggested last week that there was a “grand canyon” between Johnson’s rhetoric and the reality of his plan to help areas impacted by austerity. Similar can be said of his approach to retail. 

Just months ago, the government was publicly hailing retail’s “key workers” in supermarkets, warehouses and delivery vans for the manner in which they kept the nation going during the nationwide lockdown.

This week, when challenged by opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer over job losses in retail and aviation, Johnson said: “We know that the jobs many people had in January are not coming back.” But he insisted: “We are going to build, build, build and deliver jobs, jobs, jobs.”

“Johnson cannot look at this week’s job losses as just more statistics… Retail can emerge stronger from this pandemic but it will need the prime minister’s help to do so”

What Johnson doesn’t seem to acknowledge is how critical retail will be to that vision. If the UK – and global – economy is to rebuild from the rubble left behind by Covid-19, retail will not just be another brick in the wall but a cornerstone of financial recovery. 

One-third of all consumer spending went through retail in the UK last year – £394bn. To kick-start the economy, Johnson will need a healthy and vibrant retail sector to tempt increasingly cash-strapped consumers to open their wallets during a recession. He will need retail to offer the levels of employment and career progression opportunities that have made this industry so attractive to generations of workers.

Without fundamental shifts in policy, retail may not be able to thrive in that manner.

Johnson cannot look at this week’s job losses as just more statistics. He must acknowledge them for what they really are: the latest cry for help from an industry that requires urgent and long-term policy change.

Retail can emerge stronger from this pandemic but it will need the prime minister’s help to do so.