\n New data from Place Informatics shows that footfall dropped by 2.58 per cent across the UK in September, continuing a downward trend that began over the summer.\n<\/p>\n
\n England recorded a 2.84 per cent decline, while Wales saw a 3.6 per cent drop.\n<\/p>\n
\n Scotland experienced a similar decrease at 3.59 per cent, and Northern Ireland reported a 1.57 per cent fall.\n<\/p>\n
\n Clive Hall, CEO of Place Informatics, said: “While the business rate reforms introduced in the Budget represent a helpful but partial measure for high streets, they are unlikely to reverse the downturn by themselves.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our data shows visitor numbers falling across the UK, and that decline appears to be constant.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Unless the relief is complemented by broader, targeted support, for example, measures that boost consumer confidence, encourage return visits, or support dwell-time and spend per visitor, many town centres remain at serious risk.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The 2025 Autumn Budget introduced changes to business rates aimed at supporting the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.\n<\/p>\n
\n From April 2026, a new “slice” system will restructure business rates multipliers for many high street properties.\n<\/p>\n
\n For 2025\/26, eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses will receive 40 per cent business rate relief, capped at \u00a3110,000.\n<\/p>\n
\n The small business multiplier will also remain frozen to protect smaller premises from inflation.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, rising costs remain a significant challenge for the sector.\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Living Wage has risen above inflation, bringing the hourly rate for over-21s to \u00a312.71.\n<\/p>\n
\n This increase, alongside higher employer National Insurance contributions, means entry-level retail roles could now cost employers more than 10 per cent extra.\n<\/p>\n
\n While business rate relief is welcome, it may not be enough to offset falling footfall and growing operating expenses.\n<\/p>\n
\n Medium and larger premises will see no relief or may even face higher burdens under the new rates system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New data from Place Informatics shows that footfall dropped by 2.58 per cent across the UK in September,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-289736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}