HU JOINS UKH TO WARN UK CHANCELLOR OF BUDGET IMPACT
11 November 2024
In partnership with UK Hospitality, Hospitality Ulster CEO Colin Neill signed a joint letter to the UK Chancellor on behalf of our members, warning that changes to employer NICs will cause small business closures, job losses and cancelled investment.
The letter warns that the cost increases will cause:
- Small business closures within a year
- Businesses to reconsider investment plans
- Jobs to be drastically cut
- Hours for team members to be reduced
- Contract caterers to struggle to meet important public sector catering contracts for schools, hospitals and prisons
MITIGATION
Hospitality is disproportionately affected by the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The lowering of the threshold at which employer NICs is paid to £5,000 will bring in thousands of part-time staff that were previously never affected, disproportionately affecting hospitality.
The signatories have put forward to the Government two measures to mitigate this impact:
- Create a new employer NICs band from £5,000 to £9,100 with a lower rate of 5%; or
- Implement an exemption for lower band taxpayers working fewer than 20 hours per week, targeting support for part-time and lower paid workers.
In parallel, the HU Budget response group has begun reviewing all options available to us, as we look to the NI Assembly and mitigations to lessen the impact of what is the worst Budget impact in living memory.