A Kent pub boss has told us changes to national insurance contributions will be financially worse for his business than Covid.
The Chancellor announced in her first budget last autumn that from April, the tax for employers will increase from 13.8% to 15%.
The Chancellor announced in her first budget last autumn that from April, the tax for employers will increase from 13.8% to 15%.
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00:00Financially, it's going to be worse than COVID, and I know that's a very strong statement,
00:05but I am talking financially and not any other way. When COVID hit, we were given furlough to
00:14be able to support our team. We as a company did not make one person redundant during that,
00:20and we were also given grants to assist us through. Come the 1st of April, the government
00:26are imposing on us new insurance rates, national insurance rates, and a new threshold,
00:33and that is going to be effectively in perpetuity. For a small company our size,
00:38we employ 400 people, it's going to cost us over £8,000 a week, and that's without the
00:45national minimum wage going up. To be honest about it, we're not sure how we're going to
00:52get through with this. We have to get through, we've been going 50 years, and I'm hoping that
00:58we're going to be here for another 50 years. However, £8,000 a week is an inordinate amount
01:06of money, and I've got to say, I don't think that the government realised what they've done
01:13to retail, hospitality, or the high street.