Supermarket jobs hang in the balance

As many as 25,000 jobs in UK supermarkets could be blocked over the next 10 years if the government’s proposed Competition Test comes into fruition.

Had the controversial planning test, which is being implemented to avoid a supermarket from dominating a particular region, been introduced between 2006 and 2008, 5,000 jobs would not have been created, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

The Competition Test was a key proposal of the Competition Commission when it completed its investigation into the groceries market in 2008.

The proposed test, which has yet to be implemented, would mean that retailers with a 60% share of a local market would be blocked from extending stores or opening new ones.

Talking to The Sunday Telegraph, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of corporate and legal affairs at Tesco, said: “The competition test would put jobs on the line and diminish local democracy. If the test had existed in the past, the Tesco regeneration partnership stores in Haydock and Port Glasgow would have been blocked." Neville-Rolfe added that around 2,500 jobs a year would be blocked at Tesco if the scheme is introduced.

Originally published in April 2008, the Competition Comission’s final report on the groceries sector proposed a number of remedies to counter the dominance of the supermarkets. Introducing the Competition Test was one such remedy.

However, while Asda and Sainsbury’s showed support for the Competition Test, Tesco appealed against the proposal.

Jane Parkinson, 04.01.10