Cafe founder says NI costs are forcing closure

The woman who set up a cafe which helps people with additional needs get into work said she had been forced to close the venture due to rising costs.

Sarah Thorp, founding director of No Limits in Newton Abbot, Devon, said the increase in National Insurance (NI) payments for employers, which kicks in from April, would cost her an extra £17,000 a year.

Parents of people who have worked at the cafe said it had been a tremendous help in getting their children trained and into employment.

The government said it needed to increase taxes for employers to pay for public funds.

Ms Thorp set up the cafe as a community interest company (CIC) with Amanda Pugh in 2020 to help people with learning difficulties learn skills and find work.

She said: "It's massive, nobody wants to close but at the moment the economic climate, the increasing cost of employers' National Insurance - it's just making it hugely unsustainable for a small CIC."

More than 40% of the paid staff at No Limits have disabilities.

The cafe has supported 115 adults over the last five years by providing work experience placements.

Ms Thorp said: "What's really difficult is that we're also providing a service that's much talked about in government in terms of transitioning adults with disabilities into paid employment."

In the 2024 autumn budget Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that NI contributions would rise from 13.8% to 15%, and the threshold at which businesses started paying NI on a worker's earnings would be lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.

Angela Smith's son completed an apprenticeship at No Limits and has gone on to a permanent job in the kitchen of an independent school.

Ms Smith said: "It's like a family - everyone comes together once a month to do a social Saturday.

"When you look at the photos on social media you can see just how much everybody enjoys getting together and how much they all get out of the community of No Limits."

Tracey Coleman's son is a kitchen assistant at No Limits.

She said: "He just loves it - he has a lot of banter with everybody and just loves it so I really don't know what the next step is going to be.

"I just keep encouraging him saying not to worry and we'll get something sorted but I just don't know."

The cafe founders are now working with all of the staff to look for jobs.

Martin Wrigley, the Liberal Democrat MP for Newton Abbot, said he had been trying to help with the situation.

He said: "It's an awful shame, it's a wonderful organisation. It's a really bad consequence of some of the misguided things they put into the last budget.

"The National Insurance increase is going to really hurt a lot of organisations."

A spokesperson for HM Treasury said the government was "pro-business" and had "already achieved a great deal in a short period of time".

The spokesperson said it had "protected the smallest businesses from the employer National Insurance rise and late payments" and that business rates relief would have ended completely in April if it had not acted.

The spokesperson added: "We are now focused on creating opportunities for businesses to compete and access the finance they need to scale, export and break into new markets."

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