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22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime...

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with...

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to...

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.

8 Mar 2024

Daniel Blackham, editor of industry magazine BikeBiz, has been writing about his experience of completing the Cytech technical one qualification at training provider Spokes People in Milton...

6 Mar 2024

Cytech partner Activate Cycle Academy, the largest and most recognised training provider of bike maintenance and technical training courses to the UK’s cycle industry, recently welcomed a...

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of...

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.

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Living wage could ‘devastate' small retailers and push up prices

Posted on in Business News , Political News

Retail analysts believe higher wage is out of reach for many independent stores, while major retailers say other staff benefits would have to be cut.

Revealed in the Budget, as of April 2016, the Government is introducing a new minimum wage of £7.20, which will rise to £9 by 2020.

Store executives and industry experts said that the retail sector, which employs vast numbers of staff on or just above the national minimum wage, would be forced to cut jobs, reduce staff working hours and pass on additional costs to their shoppers when the wage, announced in Wednesday's budget, is introduced next April at £7.20 an hour for the over-25s.

The Association of Convenience Stores, which represents thousands of small independent grocery outlets, said its members were likely to have to reduce the number of hours that their staff work, cancel investment plans or work more hours in their business themselves.

James Lowman, the chief executive, said: "The introduction of a compulsory living wage will have a devastating impact on thousands of convenience stores ... to introduce this undermines the independent Low Pay Commission and is a reckless way to impose a massive burden on small businesses."

Bruno Monteyne, a retail analyst at research firm Bernstein, said: "Retailers are not magic machines that eat up inflation. Ultimately the consumer will pay for the increase in wages."

How will the wage rise effect your business? Let us know in the comments box below.

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