Shoppers in Oxford say lowering VAT will not make a difference to them this Christmas.

The change, which cut VAT from 17.5 to 15 per cent, was intended to boost public spending on the high street, but according to a survey carried out by the Oxford Mail, shoppers were unimpressed.

Of about 30 high street stores surveyed, at least six were still waiting to pass the cut on.

Among them were department store Debenhams, JJB Sports, toy shop Hawkins Bazaar, Faith shoes, Barratts and women’s clothing shop East.

Shopper Andrew Greenaway, 44, from Abingdon, said: “It’s not much is it? And I don’t really think it’s going to help anyone.

“I suppose if you’re buying higher value goods like sofas and televisions it helps a little, but it’s not going to make people spend any more money.

“People will spend what they’ve got and if they haven’t got it, this is isn’t really a big incentive to start spending again.”

Tom East, from Barton, said: “It’s not going to make a huge difference, but I suppose it’s something.

“It’s not really noticeable though, they could have done a bit more to help people out.”

Jean Skuse, from Bristol, said: “We came to Oxford to do a bit of Christmas shopping, but I haven’t really noticed the difference.

“I didn’t even know about it to be honest. You notice the deals the actual shops are doing more than a few pence here and there.”

A spokesman for the East store said the cost and time spent repricing stock would be considerable so they had decided to calculate the value of the cut on all full sales until the end of the year and donate it to a charity.

Debenhams released an apology for not passing on the 2.5 per cent VAT reductions to its customers despite being given a week to get to grips with the changes.

In a statement the store said: “We are not refusing to pass the VAT saving on to customers — we can't due to the complexities.

“Yes, we were taken by surprise by the Chancellor's announcement and unfortunately, despite working day and night to try to implement it for Monday, we have not been able to.”

“From a customer point of view it goes without saying we are very sorry indeed.”

Joy Hetherington, who owns Oxford Aromatics in the Covered Market, said: “My stock is relatively low value, so any saving would be a matter of pence.

“Logistically, it would probably be more hassle for them if I were to hand them back fistfuls of change so I don’t think I will be doing it.”

Shabir Ahmed, who runs Dragon Den, said: “I don’t really know what to do just yet.

“I probably will see what feedback I get from the customers. It happened so quickly, we only heard about it last week.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk