High street fashion giant to speed up shop closures after tax raid putting nearly 100 sites at risk
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A HIGH street fashion giant is accelerating plans to close nearly 100 stores due to the Autumn Budget tax raid. New Look is expected to ramp up its store closures programme ahead of April's National Insurance hike. Approximately a quarter of the retailer's 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire, according to The Times.
![[The company has restructured its store estate twice in the past six years, reducing its portfolio from around 600 UK stores in 2018]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/pedestrians-walk-front-new-look-961896142.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
This equates to about 91 stores, which collectively employ around 8,000 staff members. The company has restructured its store estate twice in the past six years, reducing its portfolio from around 600 UK stores in 2018. For the time being, stores remain open as usual, and no final decisions regarding closures have been made.
The move to accelerate store closures is understood to be driven by the forthcoming increase in National Insurance, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October. Employers currently pay NICs for most workers earning more than £9,100 a year. The sum they pay is the equivalent of 13.8% of the employee's earnings above that threshold.
For an employee earning £30,000, the employer would pay NICs of £2,884.20. However, in the Autumn Statement, the Treasury announced it would increase the tax rate to 15% and reduce the threshold at which firms must pay to £5,000. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
