Worcestershire farmer calls 3.9% minimum wage rise 'a massive blow'

A 3.9% minimum wage increase confirmed by Chancellor John Healey in the House of Commons on Wednesday will land as a "massive blow" for farming and hospitality businesses, according to Worcestershire farmer Tristan Bennett.

Bennett, who runs Bennetts Farms in Worcester alongside a glamping site and cafe, told BBC Hereford and Worcester the rise would hit his operations hard. "That's going to have a massive blow, especially for the cafe side and hospitality, and a lot of the young people," he said.

The wage rise formed part of a package the Chancellor presented as measures to ease cost-of-living pressures by offering people "breathing space." Bennett was unmoved. He called the Budget "a lot of tinkering and gimmicks" and said he was "disappointed there was not anything substantial."

What did the Budget change for small businesses?

One measure did register with Bennett: the small business rate relief threshold rising from £12,000 to £18,000. He said it would help the glamping side of his business a "little bit."

His deeper frustration targeted VAT. Pubs received relief, he noted, but businesses like his did not. "They did it for the pubs," he said. "We were hoping they would have been able to help the rest of the hospitality industry but sadly not."

Apprenticeships added another pressure. "We are trying to take on apprentices on the farm but we're finding it so hard now to make it pay," Bennett said.

He described himself as "nonplussed" by the Budget and questioned why Labour had not acted more boldly with its large parliamentary position. "It just seems to be such a mess with things that need sorting out," Bennett said. "If you can't do it with that thumping majority, how else can you do it?"

He didn't hold back on the wider political picture. "I'm just completely despondent, really, about the political class and what they're failing to achieve," he said.

Could business rates relief reach rural retailers?

Rachel Buchanan, co-owner of Elderwood Books in Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, is currently challenging the business rate valuation of her premises. Her current rate sits above £18,000. If her challenge succeeds, her business would fall below the new threshold — a outcome she described as a "relief."

Her circumstances make the bill feel fixed regardless of trading conditions. "We're in an area subject to flooding. Tourists come or don't come, so if we have a quiet week in the winter, those business rates still have to be paid," she said. "Having a much lower, or preferably zero, bill would make a massive difference."

A VAT cut, she said, remained a "lovely dream" — but she never expected it in this Budget, which she characterised as "tinkering around the edges."

What happens next for these owners?

Buchanan set out the practical reality facing her shop after the Chancellor's statement. "I didn't expect any big changes," she said. "And here we are back to being reliant on ourselves and making sure we have customers coming through the door to pay those bills."

For Bennett, the arithmetic is equally stark: higher wage bills from the 3.9% rise, a modest threshold lift on rates relief, and no VAT break. With apprentices already difficult to fund and the cafe facing sharper staffing costs, both owners will measure the Budget not in rhetoric about "breathing space" but in the cash that reaches the till.