Retailers classed as ‘non-essential’ will have to close their stores across England as the country enters its third national lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus.
England and Scotland will both re-enter national lockdowns this week with people told to stay at home unless for a handful of reasons as outlined in the first lockdown in March last year.
All non-essential retail across both nations will close as will schools. England’s lockdown will be in place until at least mid-February, while the Scottish government will review the measures at the end of this month.
In an address last night, Boris Johnson said the lockdown in England has been implemented as a result of the rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus, which is between 50% and 70% more contagious than the previous strain.
Tier-four restrictions, which had been implemented in most regions including London, Greater Manchester and Birmingham before the new year, meant much of non-essential retail was already closed prior to the new lockdown measures.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said the sector was supportive of the measures to stem the spread of the virus but stressed that further business support was now needed to aid the struggling retail sector.
“The continued rise in Covid cases over the Christmas period is a significant cause for concern and we understand the need for the government to act,” Dickinson said.
“The government’s testing programme and a rapid roll-out of vaccines are key to bringing an end to this cycle of lockdowns and we have made clear to the government that the retail industry is willing to make its resources available to support this effort.
“The consequences of these latest restrictions – with non-essential retail already closed for several weeks – will be severe for many businesses who yet again face losing £2bn per week in sales. Already, 178,000 retail jobs have been lost in 2020 and with over 250,000 retail staff currently on furlough, that number could increase dramatically in the new year.
“Retailers want to trade their way to recovery but if they are forced to close then further financial support will be needed or many businesses will go bust and thousands of viable jobs will be lost. The biggest difference the government can make is to extend business rates relief from April for those hardest hit by repeated lockdowns.”
According to the Centre for Retail Research, retail job losses were up nearly 25% year on year in 2020 to 176,000. Property firm Altus Group forecast that under the latest lockdown restrictions 401,690 non-essential shops will need to close.
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