Responding to the Chancellor’s announcement regarding the increases to the minimum wage in April 2025, Gus Williams, interim CEO of Chambers Wales South East, South West and Mid, said:

“The rise in the minimum wage does not take into account regional economic differences and differences in costs of living. And there is an argument it could undermine Wales’ competitiveness. For example, the above inflation rises wipe out historical wage differentials between higher cost of living cities such as Bristol and low cost of living areas such as South West Wales, impacting competitiveness and compounding the impact of increased transport costs.

“It can also lead to unintended consequences for career and skills with reduced incentives to progress. Anything increasing costs from small businesses will have to come out in the wash, and we may see cutbacks in training budgets and graduate and school leaver programmes with long term impact.

“We support efforts to reduce inequality and poverty, but would like to see a broader programme of initiatives, and personally, more focus on reducing poverty through changes to the benefits system, which currently traps people outside the workforce or in low-paid part-time work.

“The one upside for Welsh businesses could be that it makes Wales a more attractive place to work and live, a real issue particularly outside the Cardiff area, but the jobs have to be there in the first place.”