Labour has proved yet again that it hates employers/business.

[Batmanisaplaceinturkey]

Don't be surprised when your local pubs, restaurants, hairdressers etc close up shop.
Don't be surprised if your employer can't fund your next payrise, because their NI bill has increased. Workers will indirectly pay for these increases; employers don't have magic money trees.
I work for an employer that has charitable status. We work to improve the lives of others but now have to look at reducing headcount. Employers are not all fat cats driving Mercs.
BTW, I hate the Tories. This post does not make me a Tory before anyone starts that one.

Employment allowance change may make a difference. Not all employers can claim it. So for some - parent employing a nanny for example, it makes no difference.
"Only rich people have nannies" - I've worked for police, teachers, small business owners... so not the super wealthy, they just have 2-4 children (the more children the more viable a nanny is over other types of childcare).

For some employers the Employment Allowance change will help, but the NMW combined with the lower Employers NI threshold, higher NI rate, will increase the NI bill. I expect that over the coming few weeks, the calculations will be done to determine where the tipping point is... it may just be a stealth tax rise.

I run a preschool.

The employment allowance increase means we will be better off than we were before the budget.

@Hufflemuff , my goodness you seem to share Ms Reeves (mis) understanding of how business works. My husband and I came out relatively unscathed yesterday but we can’t celebrate because your car tax has gone up, your petrol cost has gone up, your bus fares have gone up. Your mortgage or rent will probably go up, everything you purchase will probably go up. At the same times jobs will become more scarce and wages will not increase for those not on minimum wage and to really grind salt into the wound your children and grandchildren will suffer to pay for this ineptitude. And still the economically illiterate celebrate.

Working for an energy company who can definitely afford to pay more tax!

2.1 million of the 2.7 million businesses In the UK have 4 or fewer employees. So the NI changes will not affect over 92% of businesses

Isn't the small business rate relief going up? And people don't have to pay NI on the first 4 employees? I think it was a bit too much too soon, but there is tax relief for small businesses. that has not been mentioned. Most of the hairdressers and cafes I know don't have more than 4 employees.

Plenty of businesses make vast profits and pay dividends to shareholders whilst refusing to pay decent wages to staff.
Sadly lots of business don't contribute properly unless they are forced to.

I think people do care, but if this goes some way to reducing the excess deaths caused by 14 years of Tory policy, making the most vulnerable pay for "austerity (I'm not convinced) then it's the lesser of two evils.

Pubs, restaurants, hotels, retail...those are all sectors that have been paying misery wages to staff for too long and expected the benefit system to prop them up.

I think it is perfectly correct that there is a decent minimum wage for people who work in the care, retail, leisure and hospitality.

A business model who relies on making profit out of paying staff a pittance is not a sustainable one.

I have worked in the charity sector for the past 20 years and I have seen a lot of money wasted on consultants, agency staff and vanity projects while the senior management pleads poverty when it comes to paying permanent staff correctly.

So I am afraid that, although I have sympathy for very small businesses, I believe a lot of the employers complaining just need to take a good look at their business practices.

Even though the threshold for paying NI has decreased?

@Bagwyllydiart , I’m so sorry.
Big business of course can weather this type of hit although wages will be depressed and prices will rise but many small businesses just won’t be able to. It’s very sad.

So businesses won't expand if it means losing their entitlement to the relief. That's great isnt it.

Much of the money raised is going to the DoE. One of the manifesto commitments was to increase the amount of nursery places available. Hopefully some of the money gathered from larger businesses will go into increasing the government childcare subsidy. To be honest, I would rather pay more tax and have the money go into public services. Under the Tories all they had and all they still have were tax cuts ( which they had raised to their highest levels on workers but never used on anything but handouts to their mates) . If we want decent public services, people need to pay more.

Are you sure you have understood the budget OP? From your complaint, I guess not. Please acquaint yourself with it, you will find it useful.

LetsChaseTrees - great to hear that the changes are positive for your preschool.
I hope that will be the case for many.

Did anyone see anything about Business Rates. Those are another cost to business which seems to go up.

Totsl nonsense
I think the budget was as fair as it could be
Personally I will be a bit worse off , but happy that it is for the greater good

It seems I've understood it more than you have.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/30/bosses-reeves-tax-rises-employers-national-insurance-contributions

It isn't just the wage increase that will kill businesses. From April the small business rates relief will end and the 75% discount for retail, leisure and hospitality is dropping to 40%. I fully expect to see a lot of closures from small independents because business rates are bloody expensive! You think your council tax is bad? Try finding another £500-1000 a month for a little shop on a regular town high street with crap footfall because councils keep making it more and more difficult to visit. People say they want diversity in their shops but no one makes it possible for any business to move in that isn't already a huge company (and even they are closing left, right and centre), a vape shop, or a drugs front.

In response to the question “what did you want then to do” I posted this on another thread:

What I’d like them to do is properly tax the rich and corporates, you want to buy a £20m house that’ll be 50% stamp duty. You develop intelectual property in US, no you cannot shift ownership offshore and license it back at huge cost. Create a wealth tax, whatever. There are tonnes of well studied innovative ideas for ensuring the billionaires pay appropriately.

It is beyond belief that companies like Amazon and Apple and M&S are taxed so little, pay their executives and shareholders so much all the whilst paying their FT staff so little they require government subsidies to survive.

What this budget has done is hand more wealth to the very richest, whilst reducing people’s choice as to who provides their goods, services and ultimately employment.

@BadgersOfHonour , @Beezknees will care when prices for everything they buy go up but their wages don’t.

Yet all these things were true under the previous government's austerity economics. The only difference with this version of austerity is it's tried to shift the burden towards businesses.

Hardly essentials anyway. NHS is way more priority.

But agree, they needed to differentiate between Fatcat business and small struggling business.

Yes.

You’re talking about local pubs, restaurants, hairdressers as luxuries and not needed

How is the economy going to survive with just the NHS?

You must know people employed by one of these businesses? Or that tax is paid by them?