UK businesses plan price increases as Budget drives up costs

The government has come under fire from business since the Budget, as bosses bemoan higher employer national insurance payments, and rises in the national living wage

The number of businesses planning to raise prices in the coming months has jumped sharply as increases in the UK Budget in tax and wage costs caused confidence to “slump”, the British Chambers of Commerce has warned. 

About 55 per cent of companies said they were planning to increase prices in the coming three months, up from 39 per cent in the third quarter, the lobby group’s survey of almost 5,000 businesses found.