Budget will 'hit a lot of small businesses'

A Shropshire small business owner has said the impact of the new Budget announced on Wednesday will be "massive".

Anthony Nicholls, who runs Anthony's of Wellington and Kinch's Coffee Bar in Wellington, said the new budget measures would "hit a lot of small and medium businesses".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised taxes by £40bn, including an increase in National Insurance contributions for employers from April.

Mr Nicholls said the new measures are "not quite as bad as I had feared", but could cost his business £3,000 to £4,000 a year.

"The Budget is going to hit me financially - it's going to hit a lot of small and medium businesses, definitely," he said.

"The increase in National Insurance payment is quite tricky and that's just going to be a lottery of who and how you employ people.

"On one hand it increased the amount of insurance but then they've increased the amount you can claim back, so it will literally depend individually on each business."

The chancellor also announced a rise in the minimum wage by 6.7% to £12.21 for those over 21, while 18 to 20-year-olds would see hourly wages go up from £8.60 to £10.

Mr Nicholls said the minimum wage increase would hit businesses like his, which employ lots of younger staff.

"I've got a lot of employees in that age bracket," he said.

"They're all very good, they're getting experience, they're learning skills, but I'll simply have to employ one less here or I'm going to go down the line of cutting their hours to make the business profitable."

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