NMW to increase again next year to £12.21 ph.

You are delusional.

This.
Although now you can look forward to having the hamster woman trying to argue with you for the rest of the evening 🙈

As a business owner of some 35 years, I can absolutely agree that some on here haven’t got a clue about how businesses work and operate.

That’s perfectly ok, but perhaps better to not comment on things that you don’t understand.

And also from you.

This is what is called and illustrative example. I have explained why the increase in wages will cause prices to rise in proportion, I haven’t “hand waved anything away” where do you think business owners are going to get the money to absorb all these costs - as well as dealing with their own wage and tax increases they will also be having increased costs from suppliers as they too face increased salary and tax costs.

That's no from you then.

I guess it's up to the owner to only rent chairs to qualified hairdressers. Our local one is excellent. Open 6 days a week, late evening 3 nights and seems to work really well. They have used this business model for years. Hairdressers pick the hours that suit their own lives.

You are definitely not being unreasonable. I earn about £16 an hour and have had a 1-2% pay rise over the last 5 years.
Responsible job and have about 30 years of experience.

Can you? You're making a positive claim so you first.

I would love to be disproven on this so can you show me any data to support what you're saying?

FGS Norman I gave you a clue, have you lost it already?

Me too, and I didn't realise that most of them are running businesses according to their comments on here.

More worrying is I didn't realise the complete lack of empathy that so many people have for minimum wage workers, it's shocking.

You've just made up an example here and decided that an increase in wages will cause a price of a service to double and hand waved away any explanation as to why that would necessarily follow.

Of course. There are a lot of very uniformed posts on here though but even idiots are entitled to an opinion.

It is a convenient myth that any increase in wages will be reflected equivalently with price increases that will knock out any benefit of said increase. It is used to keep wages low and workers compliant.

@Blanketyre people can say whatever they want to, isn’t that how it works, on MN.

You should read the similar thread on here that's been busy today. Seems that quite a few people have no clue.

I have been reading the threads on here with amazement.

I feel utterly naive - I didn't realise how little people understand about business and running a business. It's been absolutely eye opening.

But wages are nearly always by far the biggest cost that a business has. Increase in salary and other costs associated with employment feed into the price set by the business. If we say most people in service industries earn minimum wage then those at the bottom economically would earn the same as those whose services they are buying. So say minimum wage is currently £10 an hour (to keep the maths simple) you use a service that is £100, ie 10x the NMW. This covers costs like ers nic, utilities, tax of the business, supplies (whose costs themselves are largely dependent on exactly the same breakdown) some profit for the owner. The multiple is likely to remain fairly consistent. So we raise that NMW to £20 ph. At the same time we add in an eers nic increase. The costs of that business will also increase so that service suddenly cost £200. Not only is this no more affordable for those at the bottom, some of those who could previously afford it no longer can. The only businesses that benefit are those with fixed costs, but these are very few and likely to be really large businesses who can reduce costs by laying off employees.

Now businesses will absorb some increases. If the increase in the NMW was an isolated cost it might have been ok, but this budget has been a wholesale attack on businesses and entrepreneurs.

This isn't true because wages aren't the only cost that businesses face so a raise in wages does not equate to an equivalent rise in prices. It's a useful myth that gets repeated so people believe it.

It isn't a myth. The biggest cost to most businesses is staff, raise wages, and don't forget it isn't just NMW, it is across the board, why would someone supervise on the same pay? Plus the increased employers NI, and the fact it now starts at £5k or course it is going to be a significant increase.

But then you have no control over your business or the quality and service provided.

There is a place near me that has done this, offer their own course for £2,000 then let them rent a chair, it's almost a MLM. And they can't cut hair.

You can't force employed staff to go self employed. It would also be an immediate red flag to HMRC for an investigation. 2 of my staff have been with me for over 20 years. Redundancy would be a lot of money. Rent a chair salons don't pay VAT, or any other payroll taxes. They also don't take apprentices. Many are also disguised employment also.

This isn't true because wages aren't the only cost that businesses face so a raise in wages does not equate to an equivalent rise in prices. It's a useful myth that gets repeated so people believe it.

I didn't say everyone should earn the same, I said if the lowest paid are paid more, then they will have enough to actually support the local businesses around them. Those local businesses might find this beneficial because there are a lot of low paid people so it could be quite a lot of business.m

Why don't you rent the chairs out so staff are not employed but self employed? Many hairdressers work on that basis now.

The NHS has just been given 5.5% pay rise. Only last month! Are u honestly saying they didn’t know about the proposed increase?
People working at Band 2 can expect their wage to go to £12.08 hourly! That is below minim wage!
The trusts cannot afford to pay more so in some trusts they have stopped parking fees to make up for it from April onwards until next September when another pay increase will be decided
Some of these people at band 2 will be driving round in their car taking blood tests on behalf of consultants and GP’s to elderly people who need support and cannot leave their house!
And all these people of Mumsnet wonder why the NHS is going worse!