Most of the Budget is uncertain. This isn't.
In the run-up to the Budget, clients will hear plenty of speculation about tax and pensions. Most of it is impossible to plan for with confidence.
The National Living Wage rise is different. It's one of the few things about next year you can already see coming.
While the final rate for April 2027 hasn't yet been confirmed, current projections point to a further increase. That gives firms an opportunity to start planning now, rather than reacting later. That makes it one of the most useful conversations you can start right now.
Why it matters
Higher wages feed into employer National Insurance, pension contributions and other employment costs. Across an entire workforce, the impact can be significantly bigger than the rise in the hourly rate alone.
For clients with tight margins, these changes can affect profitability, pricing and staffing decisions long before they come into force.
The clients to talk to first
Some clients will feel this sooner than others. Start with clients who have:
- Businesses with large wage bills or tight margins
- Those in the hospitality, retail or care sectors
- Employers with younger workforces
There's a change coming for that last group in particular. The government plans to pay all adults over 18 the full National Living Wage by the end of this parliament. For clients who currently pay younger staff a lower rate, that gap will close over the next few years.
That's worth planning for early, not discovering in a payroll run.
Turn it into a conversation
A cost your client hasn't spotted yet is a chance to show them you're ahead of it.
Keep it simple. Give them a rough figure for the extra cost. Show them when they'll feel it. Then give them one clear next step, whether that's looking at staffing plans or reviewing prices while there's still time to do it calmly.
Handled that way, a wage projection stops being a worry in the papers and becomes a reason for your client to pick up the phone.
Walk into Budget season ready
Knowing what's worth acting on, and what's just noise, is what separates reacting to the
Mercia's Pre-Budget Survival Guide helps firms separate genuine planning opportunities from speculation, giving you practical tools to support better client conversations in the run-up to the Autumn Budget.