Publisher rams it home to Chancellor on business rates’ impact to retailers
Wrendale Designs’ founder Hannah Dale made the most of an invite to 10 Downing Street, using the opportunity of having the ears of the Chancellor and top politicians to raise the impact business rates are having on retailers.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds – who has responsibility for Royal Mail as part of his remit – was at the entrepreneurs’ reception hosted by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the prime minister’s residence on Tuesday, 15 October, which Hannah attended following an invitation from His Majesty’s Treasury.
Hannah told PG Buzz: “I went armed with a list of things I was hoping to raise – in the end I had to pick my highest priority so I made a plea on behalf of our retailers.
“I stressed the pressure they’re under with increasing costs and the burden the current business rates system is putting on them, impacting bricks-and-mortar retailers disproportionately – Labour has made promises to overhaul this system to help the High Street and I wanted to reiterate how important this is to our industry and advocate for the urgency of reform given how much pressure retailers are under.
“In typical politician fashion, they weren’t giving too much away, but I’m pleased I was able to fly the flag for our industry and hopefully our voices will be heard when the budget is revealed on 30 October.”
She explained the invitation was to the reception that followed the international investment summit where the government claims £63billion worth of private investment was pledged, which will create nearly 38,000 jobs across the UK in tech AI development, a new freight terminal at the Port of Immingham, offshore windfarms, renewable energy generation, and health measures – but retail and the creative industries don’t get a mention.
The chancellor told the gathering, partly intended to give small businesses and female entrepreneurs an opportunity to network with leaders from the investment community as well as government and trade body bosses, that she was “under no illusions” that growth in the economy is “driven by the private sector, and by entrepreneurs like those in the room tonight”, adding “my message to you is simple, you’ve got a friend in me, and in the Treasury I run”.
Although inflation fell to 1.7% last month, dropping below the Bank Of England’s 2% target for the first time in more than three years according to the latest consumer price index, food inflation rose to 1.9% – and the CPI figure determines the rise to business rates due in April, with the retail industry facing an estimated additional £140million in payments.
Business rates hikes have been “damaging investment and preventing the creation of new shops and jobs,” Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), told Retail Gazette this week. “This effect could be compounded if other business taxes are increased at the budget.”
The BRC is calling on the Chancellor to introduce a retail rates corrector giving a 20% downward adjustment in business rates paid on all retail premises to redress the imbalance that sees retailers paying a higher proportion of their profits in taxes of almost any industry.
Hannah runs Wrendale Designs with husband Jack from the family farm in Lincolnshire which they have turned over for rewilding, including reintroducing beavers, planting thousands of trees, allowing native seeds to regenerate which helps the bird population regroup and diversify, and creating a series of ponds as a haven for amphibians and insects.
From starting the business with a handful of her wildlife designs as cards in 2012, the business has grown to more than £15million in annual turnover from greetings, stationery, gifts and homewares, adding a King’s Award For Enterprise in May this year to the Queen’s Award won in 2019, and becoming BCorp certified in June.
Hannah added: “The main message from the Chancellor was the government’s commitment to driving economic growth and creating a pro-business environment aimed at creating high quality jobs and sustainable growth.
“It was great to meet a wide variety of entrepreneurs across all sorts of sectors – a lot of tech and AI people – it was an experience!
“As always it was a pleasure to meet so many inspiring people and to hear about their challenges and successes. I definitely didn’t anticipate this when I designed a few greeting cards 12 years ago!”
