Independent retailers are urging the chancellor to support small businesses ahead of this year’s Budget – and some of them say their futures depend on whether they will be able to deal with increasing costs.
“The overheads have crippled us – especially VAT, business rates and everything else that goes with it,” says Sue Westerman, who owns Lincolnshire Flapjack in the North Lincolnshire town of Brigg.
It’s a similar story on the other side of the Humber. Sally Walker, whose business, Bright Ideas, is based in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, says: “We’re a retail High Street business, and I think [the chancellor] really needs to make sure that these big [online] companies are paying their fair share because it’s not an even playing field.”
The government says it is aware of cost pressures facing some businesses, and a Treasury spokesperson says: “We’re making the business environment work better through our £4.3bn business rates support package, Small Business Plan and action on late payments.”
Westerman says she and her husband opened their cafe 10 months ago in Brigg’s Market Place but due to rising costs they have had to let four members of staff go over the summer.
“You come to work and you think, ‘If you just take £100, then £20 of that will be taken for VAT’, so on a quiet day it’s not even worth opening.
“So you reduce your hours, you reduce your staff, then you lose your customers. It’s just a never-ending battle.”
A short walk away from Lincolnshire Flapjack is House of Stoves, which Ellisa Shearman has run with her husband for six years.
“I run quite a tight ship financially, but bills that are going up are business rates, rent, heating bills – everything’s going up,” she says.
“And so we have to factor that in with our prices.
“I find that difficult because we’re in a position where customers don’t really have money, either, because they’re [seeing] the same impact at home.”
She adds: “As a country, we don’t celebrate people who strive for more. Is this next generation going to think if [they] start a business and put everything into it, [they’re] just going to be penalised?”