The Entertainer halts new store plans due to National Insurance increase
The Entertainer has said it has been forced to abandon plans for the opening of two new stores following the Chancellor’s decision to raise employers’ National Insurance Contributions from 13.8% to 15% next April.
The Government is also lowering the threshold from when employers start paying the tax from £9,100 to £5,000.
In addition to dropping the new store plans, the toy retailer’s chief executive Andrew Murphy told the BBC that the firm has frozen the hiring new staff at its head office.
Murphy said: “There’s no argument with the government’s ultimate goals… simply the balance with which they pursued them.”
The Entertainer had already chosen the locations for the new shops and carried out viability assessments.
Murphy added: “We were just about to initiate the work and unfortunately the changes to National Insurance in particular just tipped the balance so those stores will not be opening.”
The retailer operates 166 shops and has 2,000 staff members.
