Getty ImagesTop pub and restaurant bosses have warned the chancellor that tax rises in last month’s Budget will “unquestionably” cause closures and job losses.In a letter, more than 200 signatories have said the hospitality industry is disproportionately impacted by an “unsustainable” hike in the amount employers pay in National Insurance Contributions (NICs).It adds that businesses have “no capacity to pass the costs onto customers”, which would instead lead to job cuts and closures of smaller firms.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that her National Insurance changes for businesses will generate £25bn, which would aid funding of public services, such as the NHS.From April, the rate employers pay in National Insurance will rise from 13.8% to 15%, and the threshold at which they start paying the tax on each employee’s salary will be reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000.Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the changes had been designed in a way “that tried to limit the extra cost on small business”.Signatories of the letter include Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, the bosses of pub firms Fuller’s and Stonegate Group, and Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread.They are supported by a further 209 businesses, together employing tens of thousands of people across the UK.According to the letter, the cost increases will cause jobs to be “drastically” cut and hours to be reduced for workers.Ms Nicholls told the BBC that firms in the industry facing these “tough decisions” may also reconsider investing.”We understand that the government has a tough job to do,” she said, but urged politicians to “have a rethink”.Jones said that the government would not reassess the plan, and that many employers would pay the same in NI contributions as they do now, or less.”I think the public would recognise that bigger businesses are able to burden some of the contributions that we need to make to the state.”Getting the NHS back on its feet so workers who are off sick can get back to work is probably something that we’d say we’d all benefit from,” he added.Impact on lower earnersThe letter from industry bosses suggests that changes in the NICs threshold are “regressive in their impact on lower earners and will impact flexible working practices which many older workers and parents rely upon”.The signatories are calling for the government to consider one of two measures to “protect businesses who employ low earners” to mitigate the impact.Suggested measures are a new empl …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnGetty ImagesTop pub and restaurant bosses have warned the chancellor that tax rises in last month’s Budget will “unquestionably” cause closures and job losses.In a letter, more than 200 signatories have said the hospitality industry is disproportionately impacted by an “unsustainable” hike in the amount employers pay in National Insurance Contributions (NICs).It adds that businesses have “no capacity to pass the costs onto customers”, which would instead lead to job cuts and closures of smaller firms.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that her National Insurance changes for businesses will generate £25bn, which would aid funding of public services, such as the NHS.From April, the rate employers pay in National Insurance will rise from 13.8% to 15%, and the threshold at which they start paying the tax on each employee’s salary will be reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000.Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the changes had been designed in a way “that tried to limit the extra cost on small business”.Signatories of the letter include Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, the bosses of pub firms Fuller’s and Stonegate Group, and Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread.They are supported by a further 209 businesses, together employing tens of thousands of people across the UK.According to the letter, the cost increases will cause jobs to be “drastically” cut and hours to be reduced for workers.Ms Nicholls told the BBC that firms in the industry facing these “tough decisions” may also reconsider investing.”We understand that the government has a tough job to do,” she said, but urged politicians to “have a rethink”.Jones said that the government would not reassess the plan, and that many employers would pay the same in NI contributions as they do now, or less.”I think the public would recognise that bigger businesses are able to burden some of the contributions that we need to make to the state.”Getting the NHS back on its feet so workers who are off sick can get back to work is probably something that we’d say we’d all benefit from,” he added.Impact on lower earnersThe letter from industry bosses suggests that changes in the NICs threshold are “regressive in their impact on lower earners and will impact flexible working practices which many older workers and parents rely upon”.The signatories are calling for the government to consider one of two measures to “protect businesses who employ low earners” to mitigate the impact.Suggested measures are a new empl …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
