Shops laying off more staff

The UK's retail sector suffered its largest fall in employment since 2009 in the last quarter, underlining the troubles on the high street.

Retail employment fell by 0.8 per cent in the three months to 30 September – or 5,780 job losses, the British Retail Consortium said.

It was the worst result since the survey started in October 2009, despite retailers opening 1,134 new shops during the quarter. There were 23,000 fewer store jobs last month than in September 2010.