Industry body British Retail Consortium (BRC) has released a statement in response to the spring forecast, highlighting how the Government’s reforms should raise standards without deterring hiring.

The chief executive of the BRC, Helen Dickinson, said that the figures from the Government’s spring forecast show “the scale of the economic challenge”.

Dickinson said: “Growth is fragile, unemployment has climbed to 5.2 per cent and is expected to rise, and businesses are cutting back.

“While household finances may improve later in the Parliament, the immediate risk is to jobs, especially in retail. At a time when job vacancies are falling and confidence is weak, the priority should be protecting employment and strengthening living standards.

“Instead, retailers face a cost of doing business crisis. Employment costs rose by more than £5bn last year, and poorly implemented reforms in the Employment Rights Act risk adding further cost and complexity at the worst possible moment.”

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

She continued: “Our high streets are the backbone of local economies, yet business rates continue to undermine their viability.

“While Government has taken some steps to fix the current system, it is broken and must be overhauled entirely to reduce the burden on the high street once and for all.”

The BRC has urged the Government to collaborate with the retail industry to ensure that every opportunity is used within Britain.

They said to progress, the Government must regulate “the cost of doing business” to allow retailers to invest in communities and places.

This statement comes after the BRC released a report last month which revealed that businesses are preparing to reduce staff hours and pause further recruitment as rising Government-imposed costs increase pressure on the industry.