M&S boss Stuart Machin has branded the business rates increase as “economically illiterate” and the Apprenticeship Levy as “overly restrictive” in fresh reform calls for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ahead of this week’s Spring Budget.
The chief executive said in a LinkedIn post that the government must do more to understand the importance of the retail sector as current policy “makes being an employer of people and running stores really hard.”
He urged Hunt to revise the current business rates model saying the tax “balance is wrong and stymying growth”.
“Increasing the business rates multiplier by nearly 7% from 1 April – at a time when the Government is looking to tackle inflation, retailers are working hard to offer customers the very best value, and people are struggling with the cost of living – is economically illiterate,” he wrote.
“We need decisive action to reduce the multiplier back to its original level but, at the very least, an adjustment to the current inflationary uplift,” he said.
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Machin also called on Hunt to overhaul the current apprenticeship levy rules, which he claims, “would unlock the opportunity for thousands more to learn as well as earn in the retail sector”.
He said M&S contributes £5.6m to the Levy but is only able to access a third of that “due to overly restrictive requirements and bureaucracy”.
“We have an incredible employability programme at M&S called Marks and Start which has supported almost 12,000 young people into work through work placements and apprenticeships. We fund this entirely by ourselves as the Levy can’t be used for it which is just wrong.”
Machin said the government should “make it easier for employers to use more of the funds” and “expand what the levy can be used for to other skills development and training – especially digital skills”.
The M&S boss also called on the government to reinstate tax-free shopping, noting that the impact was “keenly felt in our capital, London”.
“Everyone knows the sad plight of Oxford Street – once the UK’s premier shopping destination – and we are continuing our fight to invest in a new store at Marble Arch, following last week’s successful Court judgement.
He concluded that “we must do everything we can to restore the street to its former glory and get that lost footfall back”.
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