Employers seeking ways to mitigate NI increase

More than a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK are considering a reduction in staff numbers as a result of the autumn Budget’s changes to employer National Insurance contributions and the national living wage reveals the Global Payroll Association (GPA).

To gauge how businesses might react to these changes GPA commissioned a survey of SME owners to discover what measures they are planning to take to mitigate the upcoming surge in staffing costs.

When asked whether the changes to National Insurance will put financial pressure on their business 29% of SME owners responded ‘yes’. But for many the increases to the national living wage are even more of a worry with nearly 18% saying they are more concerned about mandatory wage growth than National Insurance changes.

About one fifth of owners say they are now more inclined to push...