The NI changes are going to cost my organisation £1000 per employee

[flashbac]

The NI changes are going to cost my organisation on average £1000 per employee, The lowering of the threshold alone is going to cost around £600 extra per employee.

We are heavily regulated with fixed income. We're a not for profit. Our customers expectations are increasing. We are now most likely going to have to somehow reduce our headcount now, and payrises for April are going to be off the table.

Just shaking my head really. Our employees don't deserve this. Hard to see how this isn't a tax on jobs.

The lowering of the threshold also means employers have to pay for more workers, because part time salaries are now dragged into it.

A lot of people reading this won't care. All I can say is this NI increase will also affect you. just think about Local authorities, childcare providers and other services. Do you think it won't affect your Councils services/tax bills, to give one example?

(I'm not a Tory bot btw, before anyone starts accusing me of being one. I voted Remain, don't support the Tories at all, can't stand Boris and his cronies.)

I'm sorry but I honestly don't understand what you're saying. Can you break it down at all?

Rachel Reeves probably won't read this, but I would not start any business in the UK under this government.

Yeah you're right she won't read this. If only there was some other way for titans of industry to be heard.

It feels a really long time that I’ve been reading your posts, surely it’s time to activate your exit strategy and retire? You’ve spent a lifetime building that business, isn’t it time to drop the rope and enjoy the fruits of your labour? I’m a couple of years older than you and acutely aware of running out of road, don’t waste your remaining active, healthy years. Nobody ever died wishing they’d spent more time at work.

It’s ok not to understand business @HotTopicsWithImogen most people who don’t run a business don’t!

I would rather we had fewer public services and much lower taxes but the high tax big spending Tories and the Labour party too do not offer us that choice.

Which services would you dispense with?

Which services would you like reducing? From what we see public services need a huge investment whether it be housing, social care, emergency services, health, schools

I think I understand business ok , cheers. But this particular poster doesn't stick to rules of normal English parsing.

Maybe they're just too old. I dunno.

Can you make sense of their word spaghetti?

In 1992, in a big recession, aged about 35, both DH and I went self employed, pre-kids. The economy hauled around thanks to Kenneth Clarke, and Tony Blair won the 1997 election on the measures KC had inititated. As new businesses, one creative and one in engineering, we worked every single hour we could. In 1995 I worked all the way through Christmas Day and Boxing Day so the executives at xxxxx company could read over and comment on my work on Dec 28 so an update could be produced by Dec 29.

Eventually, life stopped being stupid, and it all worked for a while.

@Blossomtoes, DH would like to retire but doing so will seriously compromise an aspect of military capability. So he hasn't. I am not exagerating.

DH would like to retire but doing so will seriously compromise an aspect of military capability. So he hasn't. I am not exagerating.

I’m really trying not to be unpleasant but if he dropped dead an alternative would have to be found. Nobody’s indispensable.

The current tax take is the highest it's been in many, many years. Something has to pay for Covid.

Yeah exactly. Care homes is a good point.

The care industry struggles to recruit and retain staff, so making it more expensive to employ workers is surely going to be a negative for them? How will this help a labour shortage?

Spot on @Paul2023.

Many care homes and social care charities are on fixed contracts with statutory providers. They can't increase their charges.

Recruitment will be an ever worsening issue. Standards of care will reduce. CQC will be revelling in a flurry of 'inadequate' inspections.

Homes will close.

Social care sector charities will close.

The very sector that holds the NHS up.

The whole health & social care sector is in a more precarious position than ever before. When it fails, God help us all.

Actually @Blossomtoes, some people would be very hard to replace. I know you are not being awkward for the sake of it. He's not indispensable but we've spent 10 years looking for a replacement and we are still looking. There isn't a £100k payday on the table, frankly.

Which is exactly why lockdowns and furlough should be regrettable

He nearly did drop dead on Monday this week. I dont understand his world well enough or the technology to take it over quickly. We need to pay a really good person the going rate for running a complicated business, and to find one that's trustable, is not going to happen.

I’m so sorry to hear that, you must be so worried. Why not sell the business and walk away from it?

The NI rises are need to be rolled back. Immediately. The employment market has slowed down in response to spiralling costs and grappling with day 1 rights. Salaries are set to stagnate. Growing the economy under these conditions simple isn’t going to happen.
Ive already had a meeting tabled to re examine next years business plan. A combination of recession and cost mean a 0 growth on headcount year has been tabled (as opposed to the +6 we had forecast).
I know these are small numbers but this will be happening in many SME’s.
How disappointed I am in labour.

You’d think Labour would have realised that this will ultimately lead to pay freezes and job losses with redundancies and businesses closing ?

Isnt that the obvious result ?

Many care homes and social care charities are on fixed contracts with statutory providers. They can't increase their charges.

Even if they can increase their charges, the funders like Social Services or the NHS refuse to pay more.

Some charitable care homes have been telling the funders, who have say refused to pay any increases since 2015, that they have to find a new place for the resident(s). I know a provider running multiple houses, closed one house down because it was £1 million in deficit - I suspect it was for old people, who’d been there for a long time. It’s not a care home for the elderly per se - rather people who’d lived there all their lives.

It would be much simpler to say to people “This is your income tax - x%!”, rather than have a myriad of stealth taxes, which they still pay; but have a number of side effects unforeseen by politicians! For instance the elderly don’t want to move and release family homes onto the market, because of stamp duty - when a bungalow can cost as much as their house. Employers national insurance is a tax on jobs, and jobs will be cut. Are those employees who don’t get employed or lose their jobs better off - probably not!

The unions are telling them its positive for the economy, as more stable employment = workers spending more. I disagree. You can't increase the burden on business and expect headcount and wages to increase. Quite the opposite.
The other 'defence' I've seen is that "employers are always complaining, like they did with National minimum wage, so they can be ignored." Again, I disagree with that.
Labour need to seriously rethink their position.

Well, you would assume so but clearly not. Why would they intend this? Job losses, a slow down in recruitment, less graduate/entry level recruitment (an investment hire isn’t something many are prepared to make given day 1 rights and the cost of exiting unsuitable hires) and an increase in off shoring.
sound like a recipe for growth anyone?

They are doing it so that they can give their public sector voters and union funders a pay rise at the expense of the economy.

They do it everytime they get in so I am not sure why you are so surprised.

They will crash the economy as usual.

Hopefully Reform will get in next time.

So we can swing from one end of the political spectrum to the other?! Wonderful. Is it so must to ask for a party not so driven by ideology that they make equitable, evidence based decisions?

There's no "cost of exiting unsuitable hires", what do you mean? Just dismiss people fairly, behave reasonably. Also, improve your recruitment processes!

Do people really think employers should be allowed to dismiss people unfairly/with no reason/no process? It's horrible. Job stability is really important.