Nhf condemn government plans for 10p tax rate compensation

The Government risks endangering salon jobs in its attempt to make amends for abolishing the 10p income tax rate, the NHF has warned. Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, has attempted to cool tempers by promising to look at using the national minimum wage (NMW), to compensate those who will suffer as a result of the abolition of the 10p starting rate, but it is small businesses, such as hair and beauty salons, that will be hard hit with a high risk of job losses across the country, claims the NHF. Said Eileen Lawson, secretary general of the NHF: “It is typical of a government that once again seems to be seeking to maximise publicity with the sort of shallow gestures that it plainly does not understand will only serve to hit the poorest hardest. The government should shoulder the responsibility for rectifying its own errors,” she said. “Should the Low Pay Commission decide to increase the national minimum wage more than it would have done before the 10p rate was abolished, low-paid workers’ jobs will be at risk. So the so-called compensation will be anything but.”