Tesco has said that it is ‘immensely grateful’ for the financial and policy support provided to it by the governments of the UK. It said the support was a ‘game-changer’ and allowed the company to ensure customers got access to the essentials they needed.

Tesco said: “The decision at the time to provide rates relief to all retailers was hugely important. These funds meant that we had the immediate confidence, in the face of significant uncertainty, to invest in colleagues, and support our customers and suppliers. We are immensely proud of our colleagues for their remarkable efforts during COVID.

“Every penny of the rates relief we have received has been spent on our response to the pandemic.”

Tesco’s latest estimate at its Interim Results in October was that COVID would cost Tesco c.£725m this year. However, the retailer said that as the business had proven itself resilient ‘in the most challenging of circumstances’ it would return the business rates relief received in full.

Ken Murphy, group chief executive, said: “Our colleagues have done an exceptional job in responding to the challenges of the pandemic. We have invested more than £725m in supporting our colleagues, putting safety first, more than doubling our online capacity to support the most vulnerable customers in our communities, and hiring thousands of additional colleagues at a time of need. While business rates relief was a critical support at a time of significant uncertainty, some of the potential risks we faced are now behind us.

“Every decision we’ve taken through the crisis has been guided by our values and a commitment to playing our part. In that same spirit, giving this money back to the public is absolutely the right thing to do by our customers, colleagues and all of our stakeholders.”

John Allan, chairman, added: “The board has agreed unanimously that we should repay the rates relief we have received. We are financially strong enough to be able to return this to the public, and we are conscious of our responsibilities to society. We firmly believe now that this is the right thing to do, and we hope this will enable additional support to those businesses and communities who need it.”