Firms find it harder to offer pay rises
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By Business Editor Trevor Sturgess
Inflation and higher National Insurance is making it hard for
firms to take on staff and offer pay rises, and the Budget has not
made it much easier.
That was the assessment of Neil Edwards, former Kent banker who
founded The Marketing Eye, which serves clients across West
Kent.
He was among the majority of Kent business chiefs who broadly
welcomed a Budget "for growth," although Shepherd Neame boss
Jonathan Neame denounced the Chancellor's "idiocy" for adding 10p
to a pint of beer, warning it would threaten more pub closures and
job losses.
Mr Edwards said Chancellor George Osborne was saying a lot of
the things that small businesses wanted to hear, such as making
Britain the best place to start up, finance and grow.
But there was little in the Budget to make it cheaper and easier
to take on staff.
He said: "Finding the cash for pay rises is difficult in the
current climate and it's made harder if anything you do offer is
negated by inflation and increased National Insurance."
He welcomed the rise in personal allowances that could make his
staff a little better off.
"For our business to grow, we need confidence in the economy and
people willing to invest in their businesses. Despite Osborne
talking about "economic stabilit", there is still a lot of
uncertainty out there. Rising inflation rates and threats of
increases in interest rates don't help."
Without confidence, firms needed costs to be held down and "the
ability to leave as much profit in the business as we can to
re-invest - not paying it all out in tax".
Thursday, March 24 2011
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