April’s cost hikes are ‘a step too far’ for the UK’s independent businesses
Independent retailers have warned of job losses and cuts to staff hours due to rising business costs set to come in this April.
Shops pointed to the ‘double whammy’ of increases to national insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage.
“As responsible employers we want to ensure we are paying a fair wage to our staff,” president of the Federation of Independent Retailers (Fed), Mo Razzaq, said.
“But a bigger than expected rise to the national living wage… is a step too far for hard-pressed small businesses.”
The Fed represents 9,000 independent news and convenience stores in the UK and Ireland.
The labour-intensive and part-time-reliant hospitality and retail sectors have been vocal about the damage higher costs may do.
“Retailers continue to do all they can to protect customers from the cost pressures bearing down on the industry”, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson, said.
But retailers are “bracing” for significant extra costs which kick in later this week, she added.
The head of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), Michael Kill, has said that the climate heading into this year was “more concerning than anything we saw during the pandemic”.
“There is no easy way for small retailers to combat these increases. As our survey shows, the only solution available to independent shop owners is to reduce staff hours and staff numbers and, somehow, take on even more hours ourselves,” Razzaq said.
The Fed found that just over half of independent firms will cut back their workforce, while two thirds will cut back on staff hours.