Members of Food & Drink Wholesale UK (FWD) have written to Chancellor John Healey, urging him to keep food affordable and power local growth by keeping “avoidable costs out of the food supply chain”.
The letter’s signatories, which include senior leaders at wholesalers including Sysco GB, Bestway Wholesale, Parfetts, Bidfood and AF Blakemore, said: ”Our central message is simple: costs do not stop at the depot. When the cost of doing business rises, those pressures travel through the supply chain to independent shops, pubs and restaurants, schools, hospitals and care homes, and ultimately to household food bills.
“The budget is an opportunity to give families and businesses much-needed breathing space by keeping avoidable costs out of the food supply chain, backing British suppliers and local economies, and creating the conditions for long-term investment and good jobs.”
The members have outlined five practical steps, including to protect essential wholesale depots from unintended business rates increases. They are calling on the government to exempt essential food and drink wholesale depots from any higher warehouse tax or higher business rates multiplier.
FWD research found that 80% of wholesalers surveyed have sites above the £500,000 rateable value threshold. Members reported that business rates had already risen by 25% to 30% over the past three years, and 80% said further increases would force them to cut jobs or pause recruitment.
Alongside this, the members are calling for the use of public procurement to back British food and local suppliers, and to make wholesale and logistics a route into good work. They argued that the budget should provide “greater stability on employment costs, ensure future decisions are evidence-led and affordability-tested, and consider targeted employer National Insurance relief for businesses recruiting and training young people”.
The members are also urging for food and packaging waste to be cut without adding “avoidable supply chain costs”. They stated that extended producer responsibility fees should be “transparent and predictable”, while the deposit return scheme should be implemented “consistently and practically across all four nations”.
Elsewhere, they are calling on the government to avoid a fuel-duty cliff edge for essential food distribution, to set out a clear road freight decarbonisation plan and maintain appropriate incentives for investment in zero-emission HGVs. They believe a planned transition will reduce emissions without compromising the affordability or resilience of food distribution.
The wholesalers are also calling on HM Treasury to apply a food-affordability lens and a cumulative business-cost assessment to budget decisions affecting essential food distribution.
FWD CEO James Bielby explained: “When business rates, employment, fuel, energy and regulatory costs rise, those pressures travel through the food supply chain to independent shops, pubs and restaurants, schools, hospitals and care homes – and ultimately to household food bills.
“No single cost operates in isolation. What wholesalers need is greater predictability and recognition of the cumulative pressures on businesses operating on tight margins. Our members are ready to work with government to turn these practical steps into delivery.”
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