Now, the Chancellor’s potential minimum wage boost risks burdening British businesses further, many of which have railed against Labour’s rates.
Companies up and down the country are still trying to find their feet after Rachel Reeves hit them with a £25billion jump in employers’ National Insurance contributions as well as the the Employment Rights Act during her time in No11.
Alex Hall-Chen, from the Institute of Directors (IoD), said: “Combined with an increase in the National Living Wage of over 40 per cent since 2021, there is a crisis in the cost of employment which is leading many employers to curb hiring and look to automation and outsourcing as alternatives.”
Economic experts used official earnings data published by the ONS, which is used to work out the minimum wage rate, said the boost could be even larger.
Deutsche Bank even predicted a staggering 4.6 per cent increase by next April – and Morgan Stanley forecast the jump could scramble as high as 5.5 per cent by spring.