The April hike in national insurance and national living wage increases will lead to job cuts and will curb investment, the British Retail Consortium warned.

The impact of measures announced in the Budget is set to cost the retail sector £5.06bn a year from April 2025, with employers national insurance estimated to cost £2.33bn per annum alone, while the rise in the national living wage will add a further £2bn to the overall wage bill.

Over 80 retail leaders, including the chief executives of Aldi, Asda, Boots, H&M, JD Sports, Next, Sainsbury’s, Specsavers and Tesco, are calling on the Chancellor to urgently review her plans to slap a 1.2% increase on employer NI, and lower the payment threshold to £5,000, which will result in thousands more employees being dragged into the employers’ charge.

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