To think raising NMW is a good thing

The average annual profit of an SME in the UK is £11,000. Aldi Uk made £435m in the year to December 2024. One has volume and scale, one doesn’t.

What you are basically suggesting is that the lowest paid should not have a pay rise roughly in line with inflation which may well mean that they end up being subsidised by the taxpayer

An increase only just over the rate of inflation

You're talking huge economies of scale with Lidl etc though. Small businesses who may treat their employees very well are being crippled by all the massive increases in everything.

No one wants to see people earning shit wages but I dont believe this NLW increase is the answer right now!

Who the hell will be bothering to put themselves through Uni/extra exams to earn hardly anything more than potentially an inexperienced, unskilled worker.

Many people pay to train to become qualified in whatever they do, its not luck they are paid above minimum wage.

Hospitality is raking it in? Are you actually joking? With the increases in rent, beer prices (well all food and drink really) , rates, utilities, then the NI increase plus many huge increases in minimum wage they are on tjeir fucking knees!

Inflation in the UK is 3.8% to October 2025 the increase in the NMW is 4.1% for the over 21 rate

Not exactly largesse

The experience of organisations that became 'Living Wage' employers was that it made them more efficient and productive.

Lidl & Aldi are some of the best payers in Retail so clearly high wages and low cost can go together

No that just most tax evasion is done by small businesses and/or tradesmen with cash under the table.

But businesses (small,medium,large) are helped by the state in the form of UC because workers are not paid enough. If paying enough money so people did not require UC means business goes under then it isn't viable is it? As for large corporations,some retail 'giants' spring to mind, why the heck are staff not paid enough so they require UC? Is it perhaps,to do with shareholders and huge profits etc?

I'm not whining. But your simplistic 'solution' is completely ignoring the real-life experience of others on this thread. Obviously you are just intetested in virtue signalling, not practicalities, solutions or reality.

It sounds as though you're suggesting you suspect most small businesses are criminals. Is this what you're suggesting?

I would suspect that a lot of people against the NMW going up are also up in arms about the lifting of the 2 child benefit cap. What exactly do they want?

So many people against rise in min wage. It seems that businesses are reliant on workers wages being topped up by UC..then people moan about people being on benefits! Whether a business is small,medium or large..often workers are also receiving UC. It is bonkers.

It sure is. Or would you rather the government topped up peoples shit wages so you can whine about that too?

Support for such businesses alongside raising NMW. Or there won't be independent pubs, coffee shops and the likes anymore. They're already closing left right and centre. This will cause many more to close and then these jobs will not exist.

Not at all but there will soon be no difference between a NMW worker and an ECT. Who would aspire to put theirselves through Alevels, a degree, post grad and in debt for a salary that comes with the stress of teaching (and other professions)?

Oh right. That's sorted then

This is exactly the reality for small hospitality businesses.

That's not looking at the wider implications.

Higher wage bill means higher prices charged to the customer. Minimum wage workers are also customers so they have more money but everything costs more so are no better off.

Businesses that can't afford the higher wage bill will either go under or lay people off. Someone who was earning nmw is now unemployed so they are no better off.

A business that may usually hire students in the summer can't afford to pay them the new nmw so they don't employ them, they are no better off.

That's the bigger picture.

My main objection is to silly posters who think that small and micro businesses that really can't afford any more costs do not deserve to exist and should fold.
The owners will then swan off with their millions apparently.
Jobs will go, but that's fine (although the practicalities of this have not been addressed, obviously 🙄)
It's like the 6th Form debating society.

What do you suggest? They pay their workers a fiver an hour?

It's pretty simple to me. Pay people a decent wage. Because without those minimum wage workers the country would grind to a halt. That is the bigger picture.

Many independent businesses (pubs, coffee shops, small restaurants) are already crippled. Their inability to afford higher wages does not come from "poor business management" at all. At this rate, these businesses will not exist and only big corporations will. Edit to say the people running and owning these businesses make below minimum wage themselves. Don't be so ignorant.