Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of high street shops which have been empty for more than twelve months.

BEIS does not hold this data but in 2019 the Local Data Company’s report on Retail & Leisure Market vacancies put the 1 year+ vacancy rate at 7.4%. ONS data indicates that there were nearly 320,000 retail units in the UK in 2019 which suggests around 22,700 stores had been vacant for a year or more. This represents the most recent estimate available.

In order to mitigate against a rise in the number of vacant units, the Government has introduced a range of measures to protect businesses that are struggling to pay their rent due to Covid-19. We have extended the moratorium on commercial landlords’ right to forfeiture for the non-payment of rent to the 25 March 2022 and we will introduce legislation to help landlords and tenants resolve historic Covid-19 rent debt through binding arbitration if necessary.

We continue to reduce the financial burden on retailers by providing eligible retail properties in England with 66% business rates relief for the period from 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, capped at £2 million per business for properties that were required to be closed on 5 January 2021, or £105,000 per business for other eligible properties.