Following recent news articles and increase in the cost of living, businesses in our town, as well as up and down the country are faced with staggering costs that many will not be able to meet and many will go out of business unless the Government does not intervene with the necessary support to ensure our economy can stabilise.
Last week Newcastle-under-Lyme BID submitted our backing to a nationwide campaign to submit an open letter to the government with a list of asks for a support package for businesses.
The newly formed #BusinessSOS campaign, founded by organisations representing over 150,000 retail, leisure, hospitality and tourism businesses warns harm caused by the spiralling energy crisis is superseding the pandemic with the potential to cause irreversible damage to UK high streets and the economy.
The #BusinessSOS campaign believes mass closures and redundancies are inevitable if Government does not swiftly implement measures that alleviate the critical pressures that businesses, like households, have been facing since April 2022.
#BusinessSOS three-point-plan to support ailing businesses:
Reduce VAT
- Headline rate reduced from 20% to 12.5%
- Business energy bills reduced from 20% to 5% to match domestic billing
Business Rates Relief
- 100% rate relief until 31st March 2023
Energy Rate Relief
- A discounted kwh price on all business energy bills
Matthew Sims, Founder of #BusinessSOS campaign and CEO of Croydon BID said,
“The new Prime Minister has days to save the high street as we know it. The impending announcement on how the Government will tackle the energy crisis facing businesses will either ensure businesses can remain trading or set in motion mass closures and redundancies. To say the energy crisis is worse that the pandemic is not an understatement, it is the reality facing businesses today and why the clock is ticking for the new Government to provide clarity and introduce measures providing tangible and immediate relief.”
To support the campaign, we are wanting to gather as many live examples of increasing costs to our town centre businesses to highlight the issues and risks that our businesses are facing.
If you would be happy to provide some further information or are free for a meeting, then please email manager@nulbid.co.uk
