A SHOP owner in Southend has claimed he will be forced to fork out an extra £10,000 a year and will be unable to hire extra staff as a result of Labour’s new budget.

Shaz Setoudeh, owner of Keisha’s Accessories in the Victoria Centre, employs five members of full-time staff and fears the increase in employer national insurance payments will have a huge impact.

He added the move will leave “no room” for bosses to pay more for staff, and said the money could have gone towards an extra part-time staff member.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her Autumn Budget, introducing an increase to the rate of employer national insurance contributions coming into effect from April next year.

Shaz is speaking out after George Weston, the chief executive of Associated British Foods, which owns Primark, confirmed the company expected its national insurance bill to go up by “tens of millions.”

Shaz said: “It will increase my yearly outgoings by a minimum of £10,000, it is what it is, I’m not going to stop trading.

“It’s £10,000, that could be an extra part-time staff member. This has made me think twice about employing more people.

“It leaves more money in workers pockets, but takes a lot more from the employers.

“In that, it’s good, but it’s the employers who are employing them and we won’t have enough.

“It does affect us but we will have to cope with it, but it’s got to be done. It’s not something I was expecting to happen.”

While he has confirmed his business is in a “good financial position,” Shaz worries the change might lead to businesses having to make redundancies.

Carlos Gomes, 59, from Southend, director of Salsa located on London Road, believes the rise is a “necessary evil” and estimated his business will see a yearly cost increase between £2,000 and £3,000 as a result of the employer national insurance changes.

He said: “We only have one restaurant, so it won’t affect us as badly. It shouldn’t make too big a difference for us.

“For larger companies who employ more people, I understand it will be a burden.

“We have had so much under-investment over the last ten to 12 years, that something’s got to give. It’s a necessary evil.”

Mr Watson said the ‘weight of tax rises’ in the autumn Budget has fallen on the high street, as he revealed the employer national insurance hike will send the retailer’s bills up by tens of millions of pounds.

He said: “We undoubtedly have significant increases in costs that we are facing. It is not a surprise, the money had to come from somewhere.

“It’s quite clear to me that this a Budget where the weight of the tax rises are falling on business – within that, it’s fallen particularly on the high street.”

The remarks come after AB Foods reported £1.1 billion in operating profits at Primark for the year to September 14, which was 53 per cent higher than the previous year.