Gillingham small businesses owners call for reform of national insurance employer contributions

KentOnline / KMTV

Rumours have begun swirling around the contents of the government's financial plans for the coming year.  As Meghan Shaw's been finding out, there are plenty of questions those in Kent have for the Chancellor...

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00:00Last year, the Labour government unveiled their first budget of this parliament, met with

00:04mixed opinions and controversy. One of the Chancellor's measures that caused a stir

00:10was raising employers' national insurance contributions. From April this year, the rate

00:16for these contributions increased from 13.8% to 15%, as well as the threshold to start

00:23paying these, decreasing from £9,100 to £5,000 each year. It's approximated that employers

00:30would be paying an extra £900 for each employee. At the time, Rachel Reeves explained she needed

00:36to make difficult decisions to balance the books. But we're not in parliament now and

00:40I'm here in Gillingham to find out what Kent residents really feel.

00:44Faruk Kapur has owned Oasis Cafe in Gillingham for 25 years, with his business experiencing

00:50problems since 2020. Raising NI contributions came at a terrible time.

00:56Last year, the government changed national insurance, so employers like you had to pay much more?

01:02Yes, yes, of course. Everything is going more difficult now. Everything is going up. I don't know.

01:08I am struggling now. I decided I don't know what can I do. All the taxes, something like that,

01:15but I don't know where the money is going. Look at our promises.

01:18Likewise, Emiya Kuti, who owns Pateri restaurant in Gillingham, is already struggling against a

01:24tide of rising costs and flagging footfall. Yes, yes. Expensively, more expensive than last year

01:31or two years ago in the wages. Unistar Health Consultant is owned by Unis,

01:36who is calling on the government to sympathise with owners like her this Wednesday.

01:41It has been going up. Well, it went up last year and we're not sure the budget is on the way now,

01:45so we're not sure if it's going to all go up again, but definitely it really,

01:49really affected the business last year. So everything went up, not even the NI, the pension,

01:53everything went up. So yeah, honestly, if governments can look at it and see what they can do for us.

01:59Yeah, honestly, because the small businesses, we are really struggling.

02:02I don't think anybody expected an increase in employers' national insurance contributions,

02:08and that has massively affected the appetite of businesses to grow. So it would be interesting

02:16to see if they do make a change on that. I certainly think that it has been a break

02:20on what they call growth. I think growth for growth's sake is pretty meaningless, but we need a healthy economy.

02:32But with the budget round the corner, all councillors, small business owners and residents alike can do is wait.

02:40Megan Shaw for Kane TV in Gillingham.

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