𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

The boss of retailer Next has suggested that people may find it more difficult to find entry-level jobs in the coming year, due to businesses facing cost pressures through the rises in minimum wage and National Insurance (NI).

Last year’s Budget saw the level at which employers start paying NI reduced from £9,100 to £5,000, with the rate also set to increase. BBC report Lord Wolfson, the chief executive at Next and a Conservative life peer, noting that the changes meant low-paid or entry-level roles would be the ones hardest hit, and called for the government to stagger the changes to the tax bill.

Next have already intimated they will look to offset some of the additional costs they’ll face by rising prices one per cent across their range in 2025, but the wider UK retail sector has been warned of a tough year ahead.

The clothing retailer was one of several signatories last year to a letter asking the government to rethink Budget measures, saying job losses on the high street would be inevitable. Rachel Reeves has stuck with the original course of action however, with the chancellor believing it to be “the right decisions in the national interest” as the chase for economic growth continues.

A report from ONS yesterday indicated a slight 0.1 per cent growth in the UK economy for November, but retail sales fell by 0.3 per cent in December – due to food, rather than clothing in this instance, which had a 4.4 per cent rise.

Lord Wolfson explained that while the increase in tax on a £60,000-a-year job equated to around 2 per cent, the increase for a part-time living wage worker was around 6.5 per cent, meaning they were likely to be disproportionately affected by changes.

“The axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry-level, National Living Wage jobs, and that’s where the pain is going to be felt the most,” he said. “My worry is that it’s going to be harder and harder for people to enter the workforce.”

“It’s very difficult to see how such a big increase in the cost of entry-level work is going to result in anything other than a reduction in the number of opportunities available.”

Lord Wolfson further took aim at Reeves’ workers’ rights bill, saying it would impact on how stores like Next planned to offer staff extra work at certain times of year – and suggested the government should cut their own salary bill to help the nation.

“We offer staff extra hours in the run-up to Christmas. If the legislation is going to mean that those hours have to be contractually binding forever then we just won’t be able to do it at all, it would be impossible,” he said.

“Over the last five years the government has employed 100,000 more civil servants. We can’t go on spending over 40% of GDP on the public sector. It has to become more efficient and if the government can commit to doing that – and deliver it – then I think that will do more for business confidence than anything else.”