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How will raising the national living wage affect business?

Journalist: Jon King, Daily Express Online

ended 02. October 2023

Jeremy Hunt will use his speech at the Conservative Party conference to promise the national living wage will increase to at least £11 an hour from April.

Daily Express Online is looking for strong views of 3 or 4 paragraphs from business owners.

Is it a good idea? How do you see it affecting your business and/or the economy more broadly?

 

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Hunt needs to focus on what the Conservatives used to do, namely cutting business taxes. This will allow individual businesses to increase wages for staff as well as invest for growth when the country needs it most. The government aren’t a price regulator and increasing burdens on business whilst taxes are already so high will significantly disincentive them to invest, grow and generate a higher tax return for the Treasury. Again, this is short-sighted from a government void of ideas. Oh, how I miss Liz Truss.
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Shirley Leader
Owner at Velvet & Rose
As a womenswear boutique with ever increasing overheads, this news is not welcomed. We can understand the problems with the cost of living however we are already cutting back on what hours we can offer staff. Each year the minimum wage has increased significantly for us. The decreasing hours we offer has a direct impact on our local community. Perhaps the Government can look at other ways to help such as reducing energy bills?
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Arabella Harvey
Owner at Raven Botanicals
We’re an ethical skincare brand and we already pay a minimum of £11 per hour. We signed up to the Real Living Wage movement earlier this year and believe we get the best out of people when we pay them fairly. At a time when people are finding daily expenses a huge challenge, we hope raising the minimum wage will alleviate stress for workers and also enable increased spending with small businesses so that everyone benefits.
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Tahina Akther
Barrister and Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
People are struggling now but so are many businesses. Many businesses pay over the national living wage anyway just to retain and attract staff, where companies don't it's usually for a very good reason - they can't afford to.
The rise will come as a welcome relief to many who are stuck on wages tied to it, but not if it means redundancies because businesses can no longer afford those roles.