The Chief Executive of the East Midlands Chamber has commented on the increase to national insurance from 12% to 13.25% as of 6th April.
Scott Knowles said: The national insurance hike is yet another significant addition to the spiralling costs that have been hitting businesses for a long time now.
The timing could hardly be worse, given that many organisations are struggling with the rising costs of raw materials, energy, fuel and staffing. Indeed, two-thirds (67%) of our regions businesses in our Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1 2022 told us they will have to increase their own prices in the coming quarter to off-set the additional costs.
Skills shortages across many sectors are hampering firms while 63% of businesses attempted to recruit in the first quarter of the year, four in five (80%) of this cohort encountered problems with filling vacancies and has led to many having to pay more for the skilled labour they do manage to find.
Raising national insurance during a very real cost of doing business crisis adds yet another price pressure to companies that are already being squeezed at the margins particularly in the past week amid the energy price cap rise and restoration of 20% VAT for the hospitality and tourism sectors.
Without meaningful Government support, this will ultimately affect their ability to invest, grow and create new jobs.
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