Some 63.4% of respondents cited reduced customer spending and footfall as their greatest challenge, followed by competition from online platforms (57.4%) and increasing employment costs (39%). Rent rises (21.1%), business rates (14.7%) and limited high street regeneration funding (22.7%) were also key concerns.

A total of 84% said they lacked confidence that the government was doing enough to support the sector. Most of those surveyed run a single store (89.4%) and employ fewer than five staff (86.3%).

Despite this, many businesses remain resilient. More than a third (36.7%) have traded for over a decade and 62.8% have operated for more than three years.

Retailers called for greater financial support to help them remain viable, including increased small business grants (39%) and a freeze or reduction in business rates (26.7%).

They also highlighted the need for local interventions such as improved high street infrastructure (49.4%), community events (49.8%), affordable parking (46.6%) and marketing assistance (76.9%).

Soraya Gadelrab, Spring and Autumn Fair event director, said: “This data shows how much independent retailers are struggling – but also how much they matter. The high street is more than a place to shop. It’s a space for connection, culture, and community. If we want thriving towns, we must start by backing the businesses that hold them together.”

Alex Schlagman, founding partner of SaveTheHighStreet.org, added: “These findings reveal just how critical it is to remove the barriers holding small retailers back. Through smarter support, local partnerships, and focused innovation, we can level the playing field and ensure independent businesses thrive in a changing world.”

Spring and Autumn Fair and Save The High Street.org are calling on the government to implement targeted reforms and infrastructure investment to prevent further closures and community decline.

The new collection comprises a necklace and earrings with an asymmetrical design, distinguished by its “vibrant, luminous colors, the fineness of its details”, combination of stones, diamonds and lacquer.

These exclusive models are adorned with a multitude of ornamental gems in graphically striking shapes, blossoming into a spring garden.

The brand stated: “[This collection is] a joyful new variation in an irresistibly pop spirit. It is a celebration of exceptional artisanship and the virtuoso expertise of the Ateliers, showcasing all the creative energy of Dior Joaillerie.”

The launch of Diorigami follows the launch of the brand’s Diorexquis Haute Joaillerie collection last month.

The artistic director of Dior Joaillerie designed a line, with three themes; enchanting landscapes, delicate bouquets and magical galas and three pieces; a necklace, ring and earrings.

The pieces include the ‘opale doublet’ technique, which consists of mounting a layer of opal on another stone, an onyx or mother-of-pearl. Furthermore, the plique-à-jour method forms clusters of a thousand sparkling colors thanks to the use of lacquer, Dior Joaillerie’s signature, working into transparency.

The artistic director of Dior Joaillerie has designed a line, with three themes; enchanting landscapes, delicate bouquets and magical galas and three pieces; a necklace, ring and earrings.

Featuring an interplay of volumes and layers of gemstones, finely sculpted on mineral backgrounds hemmed with diamonds, the designs are described as a “series of extraordinary stories”.

The pieces include the “opale doublet” technique, which consists of mounting a layer of opal on another stone, an onyx or mother-of-pearl.

Furthermore, the plique-à-jour method forms clusters of a thousand sparkling colors thanks to the use of lacquer, Dior Joaillerie’s signature, working into transparency.

The brand stated: “The jewellery thus evokes the passage of time following the rhythm of the seasons: the purity of winter, with its icy splendors flourishing in sumptuous finery; the effervescence of spring, transposed into the blossoming flora that punctuates certain ensembles; or the joy of sunny days, represented in the brilliance of the shimmering stones that adorn several scintillating sets. A homage to dreams, fusing exceptional expertise and spellbinding poetry.”

As a result of this the NAJ can now formally assess apprentices who have completed their Level 3 Jewellery, Silversmithing and Allied Trades.

As an approved EPAO, the NAJ must ensure that apprentices have reached the required standard and have obtained the knowledge and skills necessary to formally pass their apprenticeship.

The NAJ is the only EPAO for the jewellery manufacturing sector and opens up nine specialist pathways to help NAJ members recruit and train future staff.

The nine specialist pathways are: covering casting, silversmithing, mounting, stone setting, engraving, enamelling, polishing/finishing, CAD/CAM and lapidary. Apprenticeship training is currently offered by the British Academy of Jewellery.

Ben Massey, principal officer, said, “This is fantastic news for the whole UK jewellery manufacturing industry. The status opens the door for the jewellery businesses to be able to start recruiting and training new apprentices into the specialist skills areas required after a three-year hiatus.

“At the Association, we’re proud to support such a passionate and professional group of jewellery businesses. With this new standard, and related projects, which we are continuing to work on, it’s important we continue to invest in the future of the trade.”

The statement of her resignation was made at 13:30pm today (20 October) following a meeting between Truss and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee.

Speaking outside Number 10, Truss said: “I recognise, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate for which I have been elected.”

She revealed there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week, with only MPs voting on the next PM.

She will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen.

It comes following mounting pressure from within her own party, with seventeen Tory MPs having already called for the prime minister to resign after she lost the confidence of the party.

The government had faced increasing instability in recent weeks, with a series of U-turns made following the mini-budget of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng which led to market turmoil and the pound falling to a 37-year low against the dollar.

Earlier this week, newly appointed chancellor Jeremy Hunt was forced to reverse almost all of the mini-budget commitments made by Kwarteng last month.

He confirmed the basic rate of income tax will remain at 20% “indefinitely” until the economic situation stabilises, marking a U-turn from previous plans to lower the rate to 19%.

According to the new chancellor, the measures announced will raise around £32bn a year.

Hunt has also confirmed that the energy price guarantee will no longer last for two years, and will instead last until April 2023. As part of this alteration, Hunt also revealed a treasury-led review will take place into how people are helped with energy bills from next April with the scheme likely to be more targeted.

Following the leadership contest, which is set to be conducted next week, the prime minister will have a short period to settle into the role before the government is set to announce its next budget on Monday 31 October.

Piaget has launched the second instalment of its Solstice High Jewellery Collection, following the launch of the first chapter which was inspired by Haute Couture gowns.

The collection comprises cocktail rings which include decorations that open to free the centre gem which can then be worn as a solitaire.

To reproduce the volume, colours and textures of the cocktails’ ingredients, the Piaget ateliers and their craftsmen worked for months to create the pieces.

Across the world, gemologists looked for the stones that could stand in for grenadine (pink sapphires), mint leaves (emeralds), sprinkled sugar (diamonds paved mounting), ice cubes (rough diamonds), or slices of lime (sculpted peridot)

The fruit slices were sculpted by hand by glyptic masters, and Piaget said precision was needed for the diamonds and metal slice covering the fruit to fit “perfectly”.

Additionally, the Audacious Savor necklace combines natural brown diamonds with sugarloaf spessartite and brilliant-cut diamonds.

Inspired by the colours of a dark-brown liquor, the square-shaped gold structures are set with diamonds and replicate the shape of ice cubes in a glass.

According to BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker (HSST), total like-for-like sales, consisting of both in-store and non-store sales, declined by -18.3% in May, but from a base of +2.2% for May 2019. 

BDO said this was the second worst result on record, just above April’s historic low due to the coronavirus lockdown that has prompted a collapse in consumer discretionary spending.

While in-store sales fell to a “momentous low”, non-store like-for-like sales hit a record high increasing by 129.5% year on year. BDO added that this month’s result is the largest increase since it began recording non-store like-for-like sales in 2010.

It also found lifestyle total life-for-like sales plunged by -30.0% in May from a base of +1.4% for the equivalent month last year, marking the fourth consecutive decline this year, and the second lowest like-for-like on record for the category.

Similarly, fashion total like-for-like sales dropped by -22.6% this month from a base of +2.7% for May last year. The result is the third straight negative result for total fashion like-for-like sales. However, the category did see a slight improvement on previous months due to slightly higher online spending.

While in-store sales for homeware continued to show the impact of the lockdown with a -99.1% drop in May, total like-for-like sales were lifted +22.0% by the strong performance of some pure-play online retailers in the sector in addition to a higher proportion of sales across non-store channels in general.

Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, said: “Despite the significant pick-up in e-commerce, the monumental collapse in discretionary spend remains stark as retailers continue to face challenging headwinds.

“As shops look to reopen on the 15 June, they will face disrupted supply chains, mounting out of season stock and reduced footfall, as well as staffing uncertainty. These problems will be further compounded with the financial burden of implementing new measures to keep staff and customers safe.”

She added: “While government support so far has provided a lifeline, the reality is that the situation on the high street will remain critical for the foreseeable future. More than ever, retailers will be looking to both central Government and local authorities for creative solutions to ensure the high street has a viable future as lockdown restrictions continue to lift.”

This was “largely” driven by a sharp fall in non-food prices, which fell “sharply” by 4.6% in the period, compared to a decline of 3.6% the month prior. This again marked the highest rate of decline in 14 years. 

Clothing and furniture saw the biggest drop in prices, which the BRC attributed to promotions run by retailers in efforts to encourage spending and mitigate recent losses. 

Nonetheless, year-on-year food prices slightly increased, with food inflation easing to 1.5% in May, down from 1.8% in April.

This was largely due to higher business costs, implementing social distancing measures and an “upward pressure” from labour shortages. Food prices were still down on a monthly basis as consumers turned to local produce, however. 

Helen Dickinson OBE, CEO of British Retail Consortium, said:  “We expect to see continued upward pressure on food prices from the effects of the pandemic in the coming months, while non-food prices are likely to remain deflationary with subdued sales.

“Even as non-essential shops begin to reopen from 15 June, consumer demand is expected to remain weak and many retailers will have to fight to survive, especially with the added costs of social distancing measures.” 

She added: “Retailers face an uphill battle to continue to provide their customers with high quality and great value products despite mounting costs. 

“Government support remains essential, both to rebuild consumer confidence and to support the thousands of firms and millions of jobs that rely on it.”

Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight, Nielsen, said:“With the retail industry coping with store closures and social distancing limitations, it’s no surprise to see shop price inflation slowing in recent weeks. 

“Across the major supermarkets with sales growths in high single digits in May, the consumer spend on promotions has also been at an all-time low, but there has been little upwards pressure on prices.” 

He added: “However, as we move towards summer with the importance of seasonal foods and with the supply chain still disrupted, we can anticipate some volatility in prices.”  

Its latest report revealed that polished prices were stable in May despite “minimal” trading, with business limited to online platforms. 

The latest RapNet Diamond Index for 1-carat diamonds also rose 0.2% during the month, but has dropped 8.3% since the beginning of the year.

According to the group, the slowdown in jewellery retail is affecting the rest of the market. While jewellery stores have reopened in many US states, foot traffic remains down and riots over police brutality are “also creating concern”.

It noted that Hong Kong has seen a return of diamond trading, with some demand stemming from China, though concerns are reportedly mounting over renewed protests following the latest Chinese security laws.

Nonetheless, Rapaport said that markets in India are partially active again, while bourses in Belgium and Israel are operating under new health and safety guidelines.

In addition, the report said that the diamond industry is beginning to rethink its marketing message, moving to “highlight diamonds as a symbol of values and emotional connections as people emerge from isolation”.

It cited that the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), formerly known as the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), has an opportunity to “re-engage with younger consumers in an authentic and dynamic manner that is appropriate for today’s tough market conditions”.

Rapaport said: “Jewelers have enough inventory to satisfy short-term demand, at least until the holiday season. 

“They are expected to focus their promotions on bridal, as well as classic diamond jewelry like solitaire necklaces and tennis bracelets.”

It added: “Manufacturers are trying to reduce supply. Miners’ inventories have grown during the shutdown as rough sales have slumped.

“Mining companies are offering more goods on their digital platforms as travel restrictions remain in place. Some are relocating their sales to Antwerp while southern Africa and India remain on lockdown.”

There’s being a few hundred thousand or a few million short, but when your market capitalisation (i.e. the total value of your company) is £142m, suddenly sums of that order begin to look very scary.

The problem was found by auditors from Deloitte who were retained last month to investigate what had gone wrong after the company overestimated the value of its stock – products in storage that is, not traded stock.

An internal probe found that the stock value on 26 January last year was between £20-25m, but it would seem somebody is not very good at scanning barcodes, because this was half the actual figure.

More stock rather than less sitting in the warehouse is a bad thing, as it suggests that there is not enough “sell through” – for the uninitiated, that means the level of stock which is successfully sold to actual customers.

News like this always makes the vultures start circling, and Ted Baker’s lenders quickly became jittery – they asked their own advisors to review the business in anticipation of the firm suddenly needing to do a whip round for more funding. It is understandable, given today’s overstatement of the accounts amounts to more than the profit the firm generated in its last financial year, of £50.9m.

It is worth noting that the overstatement relates to a “non-cash item” from previous accounting periods, and the firm therefore has not published any new profit forecast for the current one, ending later this month. But it adds to a picture of a company in serious trouble, because the problems just keep on mounting.

• Last year, in March, founder Ray Kelvin resigned as chief executive after some employees alleged there were “forced hugs” taking place at work
• The company’s share price is worth a quarter of what it was at the start of 2019
• It issued four profit warnings last year, and announced an H1 loss of £23m in October, the first time it has lost in over 20 years
• It said November and Black Friday trading periods were “below expectations”

It’s almost painful to write.

Javid provokes American ire over digital tax plans

In recent years there has been a growing sense that the era of the monolithic tech giants is approaching its twilight years.

Being allowed to grow to unimaginable scale and power over a short period of time, firms like Google, Facebook and Amazon have enjoyed what I predict will come to be seen as a sort of early-Internet ‘wild west’ era, not unlike the great monopoly of Standard Oil in the early 20th Century. Spoiler: it was broken up.

It’s probably too early to make predictions about how breakups of these firms might look, not least because they will be able to make very persuasive arguments that the only way services like theirs can exist is due to a phenomenon called ‘network effects’.

This theory holds that in order, for instance, for Facebook to be useful as a social network, small numbers of people are no good: everyone needs to be on there for it to be good for anyone. Similarly with Google: it is the most popular search engine because it has the largest haul of daily data from which to learn about search habits, refine its algorithm, and deliver better search results.

But the first crack in the dam may be appearing, certainly in the more regulation-averse economies, as UK chancellor Sajid Javid has mooted a new digital tax designed to overcome the problem of multinationals incorporating shell companies in low-tax jurisdictions and funnelling all the profits through them.

The tax was due to be introduced in April, and while the Americans have pushed back hard, forcing Javid to “hold fire” on the plans, it is part of a wider discourse about reining in these mighty technology monsters and forcing them to pay taxes that everyone recognises as being fair. Stories constantly abound of one or other major corporation paying little or nothing in corporation tax in the UK and elsewhere, despite having sales running into the billions in those locations.

France has also delayed a new proposed tax under pressure from Washington, a clear indication that the Americans are very worried about the crown-jewels of their world-beating tech scene being fleeced by foreign governments. But the debate will not end because the Yanks get terse about it.

The OECD appears to be taking a lead by saying that a global harmonisation of policy will be required to reach a solution to what is really an unprecedented problem. The Secretary General Angel Gurria told the BBC that the alternative is a “cacophony and a mess” in which dozens of countries do their own thing, causing “tensions [to rise] all over the place”.

The UK was planning to apply a flat tax of 2% on UK revenues of major tech categories, like social media sites, search engines, and marketplace platforms such as Airbnb from April this year.

As activist clamour against the “one percent” grows, and as more and more power and wealth concentrates in the hands of a tiny number of successful business people, I reckon it’s only a matter of time before politicians promising to take a sledgehammer to their vice grip will be at the levers of power. Watch this space.