Ten per cent of part-time shop workers could lose their jobs because of the higher cost of employing them under the Chancellor’s Budget changes.

More than 1.5 million jobs in retail are part-time, just over half the total. They include students, parents working around childcare, and seasonal workers providing support during the peak trading periods.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) says one in ten of these jobs – up to 160,000 – are at risk of being lost over the next three years as a result of measures announced at the last Budget. About 13,000 are in Scotland.

Rising employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and National Living Wage will add £5bn to retailers’ labour costs in 2025 alone, putting pressure on the industry to cut back on employment.

Part-time roles are particularly susceptible to the upcoming changes in the employer NICs thresholds, says the BRC, with retailers to be taxed for any employee earning more than £5,000 – down from the current level of £9,100. This will make it significantly more expensive to hire part-time workers than previously.

These effects would be compounded by some of the proposed changes under the Employment Rights Bill, which could force firms to reduce the number of local, flexible jobs. This would have the biggest impact on part-time workers, including seasonal and student jobs.

Almost a fifth of retail workers are under the age of 25, making the industry a popular first step on the career ladder for hundreds of thousands of young people.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the BRC, said: “Retail has long offered the first rung of the career ladder to hundreds of thousands of young people.

“However, [because of] rising employer National Insurance Contributions, higher NLW costs, and incoming employment regulations, the government may be kicking away the ladder for the next generation. One in ten part-time retail roles are now at risk of being lost.”

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the Scottish Budget will see a further £7.6m added to retailers’ business rates bills this Spring.

“These expensive statutory costs will tighten the fiscal screws on the industry in 2025 and cannot simply be absorbed,” he said.

“This will have consequences for staffing levels including part-time and entry level roles, for commercial investment, and for prices charged to customers.”

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