By Tim Lewis, Senior Contracts Manager at Inco Contracts
“The big hope is that the budget brings stability to inflation, which in turn will provide increased confidence for the Bank of England to reduce interest rates.
The sky-high rates we’ve seen in the last few years have reduced the spending of key pension funds and this has restricted activity across the construction sector as a whole.
If we can maintain lower levels, then that should spark an upturn as investment in portfolios increase.
Inco Contracts has had a strong year of growth and renewed positivity around the economy will help us continue to invest in more staff and new offices to go alongside our HQ in Cannock and satellite locations in Cardiff, Stevenage and Warrington.
There are also a lot of things that can happen that will make business nervous. The proposed increase in employers’ NI contribution will ultimately result in higher prices for consumers and this, in turn, increases the cost of products and services pushing inflation higher. A vicious circle you could say.
The bigger industry picture is equally worrying. We are a national construction company employing 40 people and also tap into a supply chain of over 150 businesses, ranging from very small limited companies to large internationals.
We have had no guidance as to how the increase in NI contributions will affect our supply chain going forward. I fear it will put a lot of pressure on smaller firms with many choosing not to invest in plant and equipment or recruit further staff due to the imposed additional costs.”
