Small businesses have called for the government to “significantly increase” the employment allowance to prevent them from having to shut down following the budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to raise national insurance contributions paid by employers – despite promising not to increase the tax “for working people” – to help fill a £40bn black hole during the Labour government’s budget on Wednesday.
The government has already announced the national living wage, the minimum someone aged 21 and over can be paid, will also increase from April by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour while 16-20 year olds will be paid £10 an hour – a 16.3% rise.
Small business owners have told Sky News the combination of high costs over the past few years and the raising of the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions will hit some businesses hard.
Michelle Ovens, founder of Small Business Britain – which champions the UK’s 5.1 million small businesses – warned more and more will fail if they continue to face this kind of pressure without help from the government.
Hospitality is among the industries that will be hardest hit, she said, while a hair salon owner was close to tears as he described how the changes could be “the nail in the coffin” for his industry.
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Ms Ovens and Tina McKenzie, policy chair for the Federation of Small Businesses, both called for the government to increase the employment allowance to help relieve pressure and save businesses.
Companies with a national insurance bill of less than £100,000 a year can be exempt from paying the first £5,000 of employers’ national insurance contributions under a programme called the employment allowance.
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Increasing the amount small business owners will be exempt from paying national insurance on would help soften the blow, they said.
Image: Rachel Reeves
‘We’ve had enough’
Extending business rates relief would also help small businesses, Ms McKenzie added. The hospitality industry has been given a 75% discount on business rates since 2020, but that is due to end next April.
Toby Vickers, founder of the Salon Employers Association and managing director of The Chapel Salons in London and the South East, said the years of increasing VAT, employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage have made his industry “unsustainable” and the latest changes could be “the final nail in the coffin”.
On the verge of tears, Mr Vickers told Sky News’ Business Live programme: “It means that potentially people are going to lose their homes, and lose their apprenticeships and lose their opportunity to grow because you [the government] haven’t listened.”
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Business owner on the budget: ‘I am shaking’
‘Small businesses are the lifeboat’
Sanjay Aggarwall, owner of spice tin gift set company Spice Kitchen, in Liverpool, told Sky News the 50% increase in maximum bus fares to £3 has added to the concerns about potential customers having less to spend, as his warehouse team rely on public transport to get to work.
He said he would tell the chancellor: “Small and medium-sized businesses are the lifeboat of this country and employ 61% of the nation’s workforce, so really need to be front and centre in terms of decision making.”
Image: Sanjay Aggarwall and his mum Sashi Aggarwal co-found Spice Kitchen spice kits. Pic: Spice Kitchen
Ms Ovens, from Small Business Britain, told Sky News: “Small businesses have seen high costs across the board over the last few years, so raising the minimum wage again will hit some, though not all, businesses hard.
“Around 16% of small business staff are on minimum wage, and this is concentrated in industries such as hospitality, which will get a double hit from the rise in national insurance too.
“To keep these essential stalwarts of our high streets and communities, we need to see both a rise in employment allowance and a continuation of business rates relief to help with these. If we keep adding pressure to small businesses, we will see a continuation to the growing trend of business failures.
“We hope to see more in the budget to recognise the essential role small businesses play in the economy and growth.”
Ms McKenzie, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Raising employer national insurance contributions at the same time as employers adjust to a higher national living wage is why the government should step up and significantly increase the employment allowance – reducing tax employers pay on wages is how you get sustainable rises staff actually feel in their pockets.”
Sky News has contacted the Treasury for a comment.
A music video-streaming service whose shareholders include the U2 bassist Adam Clayton will this week announce that it has sealed a management buyout after months of talks.
Sky News understands that the assets of MagicWorks, which trades as ROXi, have been sold to a new company called FastStream Interactive (FSI), with backing from two major US-based broadcasters.
Sources said that Nasdaq-listed Sinclair and New York Stock Exchange-listed Gray Media were among the new shareholders in FSI, with the launch of new interactive TV Channels in the US expected to take place shortly.
The deal, which has involved raising millions of pounds of new equity from new and existing investors, has resulted in previous creditors of the business being repaid in full, according to the sources.
Its search for funding from the US was seen as vital because of the programme to roll out its FastScreen technology.
Founded in 2014, ROXi described itself as the world’s first ‘made-for-television’ service, allowing viewers to stream millions of songs and download hundreds of thousands of karaoke tracks.
Its broadcast channels allow viewers to skip through content in which they have no interest.
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Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams were among the prominent music industry figures who had previously been named as ROXi investors.
Financiers including Guy Hands and Jim Mellon are said to be part of the new ownership structure.
In response to an enquiry from Sky News, Rob Lewis, FSI chief executive, said: “The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionise broadcast TV.
“For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the programme, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV”.
Begbies Traynor Group, the professional services firm, and Rockefeller Capital Management advised on the process.
Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.
Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.
City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.
Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.
The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.
It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.
The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.
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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.
This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.
Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.
In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.
Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.
Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.
World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.
The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.
Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.
The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.
“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.
In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.
It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.
The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.
This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.
Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.
Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.
The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.
Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.
Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.
Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.
Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.
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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.
It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.
“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.
“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.
“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”
Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.
The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.
Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.
Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.