NI increases will have knock-on effects on pay levels says Wendy Jones-Blackett
Publisher Wendy Jones-Blackett has spoken for all small business owners struggling with the aftermath of the first Labour budget for 14 years.
In an article covering the unemployment rate rise as pay growth slows, Chapel Allerton-based Wendy told the BBC yesterday, 12 November: “if you want to retain good staff, you want to increase their pay.”
But she explained that the consequences of the budget’s increases in minimum wage and employers’ national insurance obligations will have knock-on effects for companies like hers, where she employs seven staff to help design and make her handmade greetings cards, while the printers and storage firms she uses will be even more affected.
Wendy, who is also a GCA council member, added: “We’re having to build in that their costs are going to go up – for their services and the things that we buy. It is going to make us question pay rises – if you want to retain good staff, you want to increase their pay. We want to do that but we’ll have to temper that with rising costs.”
The BBC reported that in the three months to September – the period including July’s general election when Labour swept to power for the first time since 2010 – the rate of unemployment stood at 4.3%, up from 4% the previous quarter, and the number of vacancies fell again, as has been happening for over two years.
Wage growth has eased, but pay is still rising faster than inflation, which measures the rate of price increases. Excluding bonuses, pay grew at an annual rate of 4.8% between July and September, the lowest in more than two years.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the Office For National Statistics, told the BBC’s Today programme that the total still remains a little above pre-pandemic levels and the latest figures suggested there was a “continued easing of the labour market”.
Although the ONS has some concerns over the figures because it has had a smaller number of respondents over the past year, anecdotal evidence such as Wendy’s comments and from supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s along with Marks & Spencer, who face a steep rise in costs following chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget decisions announced last week, and there are concerns they may have to cut back on hiring, restrict staff wage increases or raise prices.
And The Entertainer – which sells Danilo’s licensed cards and giftwrap – has abandoned plans for the opening of two new stores with chief executive Andrew Murphy telling the BBC the retailer has also frozen the hiring of new staff at its head office.
