Gloucestershire's small businesses futures at risk amid living wage increases
From today, the national minimum wage becomes £12.21
Business experts in Gloucestershire are highlighting concerns as the national living wage goes up today (1/4).
Employers now have to pay at least £12.21p per hour to staff over 21 years old.
But Sam Holliday, development manager for Gloucestershire at the Federation of Small Businesses, said with margins being tight for local enterprises, it's putting their futures at risk.
He said: "Every time the government increases the national living wage, that goes straight off the bottom line.
"What worries us is that some people may not get pay increases this year, some people may not find people being recruited when people leave, it's all those knock on effects of what happens when your increases go up."
Sam told us that with water, gas and electricity bills on the rise again, more and more is being stripped from a businesses bottom line.
"Eventually some businesses will just say, that's it, I can't cope anymore, and will walk away," he said, adding: "The government really needs to do something to try and reverse the trend of disappointment felt by a lot of small businesses at the moment," he said.
While the higher national living wage means we will earning more, Sam said it's not a given that the extra income will find its way back into small businesses.
"It's brilliant to see people are going to be earning more money and they deserve it because they work very hard for their money," he said, before adding: "Does it all go back to small business?
"Not necessarily, because the gas bills going up, the water bills going up, there's so many things that are happening at the moment and all of us know that our personal budgets are being tightened and that will affect the business spend as well."