Organisations urge Chancellor to support small businesses

Sustain and the Real Bread Campaign have joined a coalition, led by Better Food Traders, of organisations that represent thousands of businesses across the UK.

They have written to the Chancellor of The Exchequer, urging the Government to keep planned business rates reforms in the November 2025 Budget. These changes are expected to lower rates for smaller retailers and hospitality businesses with a rateable value below £500,000, while increasing them for large premises such as supermarkets and distribution warehouses.

The letter

Dear Chancellor,

We write on behalf of more than 200 independent, sustainable food businesses who are part of the Better Food Traders network and all of the co-signatories at the bottom of this letter.

Ahead of the Budget on 26^th November, we urge you to stick with your planned business rates changes, which are expected to increase rates for large premises such as supermarkets and distribution warehouses, while lowering rates for smaller retailers and hospitality businesses. This will be a highly effective way of levelling the playing field, and it is clear that supermarkets – many of which have raised their earnings calls over the last year – can afford to pay more. 

Small businesses make up 99% of the total business population in the UK, and food and hospitality play a huge part in Britain’s economy and local communities. Hospitality is the third largest employer in the UK, with 3.5 million people working in the sector, while for every pound spent in 2024, 39 pence was spent in food shops.

Unfortunately, more than 95% of that food spend goes to one of the 10 large supermarket chains, while more and more small, independent retailers are struggling or even closing. These types of businesses are the life-blood of our high streets and communities, and the impact is huge. 

We know that there is a strong correlation between areas where there is visible high street decline, and higher levels of community breakdown and perception of systemic neglect by mainstream political parties. Closure of independents also dismantles routes to market for farmers that offer better relationships and fairer prices, and destroys local jobs where we know pay and terms are often fairer, and the number of people employed per pound of turnover is higher. 

You can read more about How alternative food retail can make the National Food Strategy a success, a report co-written by Better Food Traders and Foodrise, plus its sister report Profit Over Purpose on why supermarkets are failing people and the planet.

Recently, the CEOs of the UK’s biggest supermarkets asked you to back-track on these upcoming business rates changes, with the threat of passing on the costs to shoppers rather than absorbing them. This is frankly outrageous – another example of supermarkets shirking their responsibilities and putting profit before people.

Supermarkets like to talk about the narrow margins they make – that’s because they choose to spend vast amounts of money on CEO pay, and marketing for UPFs and unhealthy foods that fuel the obesity crisis. Supermarkets are constantly squeezing farmers (farming has one of the highest suicide rates of any sector in the UK), squeezing workers and hollowing out the high streets that we need and value – taking that money away from local economies to pay institutional shareholders.

Dozens and dozens of Councils around the UK are running Shop Local campaigns in an attempt to rebuild their high streets and communities, but the fact is we need structural change through business rates, not piecemeal local marketing.

It’s time for large food retailers to pay their share, and for smaller retailers and hospitality businesses to be supported. Please stick to your plans and bring in these much needed business rate measures.

Yours sincerely,

Julia Kirby-Smith, Executive Director of Better Food Traders

Carina Millstone, Executive Director of Foodrise

Craig Beaumont OBE, Executive Director of the Federation of Small Businesses

Juliane Caillouette Noble, Managing Director of The Sustainable Restaurant Association

James Alcock, Chief Executive of Plunkett UK

Emma Mosey, Chair of the Farm Retail Association

Robert Fraser, Executive Director of the Real Farming Trust

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming

Jyoti Fernandes, Co-Founder of the Landworkers Alliance

Nick Weir, Community Facilitator of Open Food Network UK

Chris Young, Coordinator of the Real Bread Campaign

Zosia Walczak, Deputy Director of Growing Communities

Nick Jefferson, Founder and CEO of Wylde Market

Suzy Russell, Coordinator of The Community Supported Agriculture Network UK

Pete Russell, Founder of Ooooby

Steven Sidhu, Founder of Growing Good Technology Ltd

Lynne Davis, Founder of the Food Data Collaboration

Charlotte Bickler, Coordinator of UK Grain Lab CIC