Currys boss blames Labour's 'tax on jobs' as it announces plans to hire more workers in India
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Currys’s boss has warned that price hikes, hiring more workers in India and automation are ‘inevitable’ after the Chancellor’s ‘tax on jobs’ in the Budget. Alex Baldock said the electricals retailer will not hire as many staff in the UK after Rachel Reeves hit business with a £25billion hike in National Insurance (NI).
The raid will cost Currys an extra £30million a year at a time when it is also dealing with an inflation-busting hike in the minimum wage and higher business rates. These increased costs mean Currys is looking to hire more workers in India, where it already employs 3.6 per cent of its workforce.
Baldock said: ‘We’ve already got the best part of 1,000 colleagues in India – all the usual central and IT functions that you would expect – and they do a cracking job. 'You can expect, as UK-people costs inflate, to see more of that, that’s just inevitable.’.
Job cuts: Currys's boss Alex Baldock said the electricals retailer will not hire as many staff in the UK after Rachel Reeves hit business with a £25bn hike in National Insurance. He said the NI increase ‘is a tax on jobs that doesn’t benefit colleagues at all’.
The employer NI rate was increased from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, and the threshold for paying it has been cut from £9,100 to £5,000. Currys will also increase the use of automation on the shop floor. Baldock warned price rises are ‘inevitable’, although insisted Currys will ‘do our best to keep these to a minimum’.
