Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Shops, gyms, restaurants and pubs have called for the Government to split the cost of unpaid rent with commercial landlords.
Trade associations including the UKHospitality, ukactive and the British Retail Consortium have issued a joint call for the Government to introduce a Property Bounceback Grant.
The Property Bounceback Grant would cost an estimated £2bn, yet it would save 375,000 jobs and more than pay for itself nearly fourfold in the first year alone.
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Analysis commissioned by the trade bodies found that if Government support covered 50 per cent of unpaid rents across the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for only six months, it would cost £1.75bn.
However, the total return to the Treasury in terms of tax revenue from economic activity would be almost £7bn, and 375,000 jobs would be saved – a return on investment of nearly 400 per cent.
Without financial support from the Government, warn the trade bodies, both tenants and landlords face the very real risk of business failure, hundreds of thousands of job losses, and long-lasting damage to high streets across the UK.
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Retail