Sainsbury’s boss criticises speed of Labour tax changes

Sainsbury’s CEO, Simon Roberts, has told the Telegraph that the chancellor gave businesses no time to plan for her £25bn tax changes.

He said that the decision to increase employer National Insurance from April was “not something anyone expected – certainly, it wasn’t expected at the speed it was coming at”.

He added that because it was “so unexpected, supermarkets would be significantly impacted”.

According to Roberts, “there would have been a much greater benefit if those changes had been phased, with a clear period of time for businesses to plan” as businesses such as Sainsbury’s would generally take a year or longer to lay out plans.

Amid growing concerns over the wave of higher costs that supermarkets face over the next year, he told the outlet: “If there had been more preparation for that and planning for how that change came in, I think that would have made a very substantial difference.”

Earlier in November, Roberts warned that the rise in employer’s national insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget would cost the supermarket £140m. He also indicated that the business’s rates bill is likely to rise this year, as the government has postponed its review of the system until 2026.

However, Sainsbury’s is not the only supermarket that is being impacted by the decisions made in the Autumn Budget. Tesco has also cautioned about the impact of the changes and has not ruled out the possibility of price increases for shoppers. Similarly, Boots has stated that it is facing “heightened cost pressures in 2025” following the Budget.

In addition to higher employer costs, retailers are also going to face new net zero levies for packaging from next year, which is expected to cost the sector as much as £2bn.

Roberts concluded: “We’ll be working very hard, as I know all of my industry peers are, to make the case that these decisions need to be phased over a period of time.”