ActSmart supports IRC Independent Retailers Rent Survey
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Although the high street has now been able to 
reopen for a full month now, this does not mean the problems caused by the COVID-19 crisis are anywhere near over.
ActSmart has been playing an active role in the Independent Retailers Confederation's (IRC) aim to assist high street shops in getting back up and running. This involves the creation of campaigns such as the 'We are open' shop map- a directory of UK shops and small businesses that are still open and operating responsibly during COVID-19, and the Best Small Shops competition- a competition championing indie retailers showing innovation throughout the pandemic. ActSmart are also working with Indie Retail to temporarily provide free job advertisement to all retailers.
The IRC believe that when it comes to saving the high street we are all in this together and that the future of the high street is dependent upon all indies surviving. In the most recent efforts to help the high street all IRC members are promoting a questionnaire to gather information on the experiences independent shops have been having with landlords and rent payments.
Many businesses across the high street have been struggling to pay their rents due to the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown. To date, the only action the Government has taken on this issue is the introduction of a voluntary Code of Practice for commercial landlords and tenants many retailers do not believe goes far enough.
With that in mind, the IRC have created the Independent Retailers Rent Survey that ActSmart is supporting. The survey should take less than 5 minutes and will help inform our lobbying with Government, provide us with an idea of what is happening across the market and bring some much needed media attention to the plight of indie businesses across the high street. All results are confidential and will not be shared except on an anonymised and aggregated basis.
Complete the Independent Retailers Rent Survey now
The deadline for the survey is Friday 31 July.