Retail trade union Usdaw has released a blueprint to improve the quality of UK retail jobs and to “save” High Street shops including calls for minimum wage of at least £12 per hour.

Contending that retail staff need and deserve to be given a much better and fairer remuneration for the sector to prosper, the union’s blueprint outlines a framework including revised economic terms aimed at supporting retail growth, driving investment in good quality retail jobs, and levelling business taxation between online and in-store retailers.

The plans also include retraining and upskilling for new technology and automation, along with the transition to net zero, a reform to the Apprenticeship Levy -- a UK tax on employers which is used to fund apprenticeship training – and improved statutory sick pay for workers and improved workers' rights along with the minimum wage proposal.

“For retail workers to prosper, not just survive, we need to make sure retail jobs are better jobs,” said Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary.

“Shopworkers need and deserve to be given a much better and fairer deal, which is at the heart of our plan launched today,” he added, while stating that the blueprint’s overall aim is to compel the government to recognise the “vital role that the retail sector, and retail workers, play in our economy and our society”.

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