Given that a freddo is now 40p (at time of writing!) and everything appears to have doubled in price since Covid, how can an employer help their employees make their salaries go further without a pay rise?

Look at what employee benefits you can offer, some will save an employer money, a salary-sacrifice benefit means you are reducing your employer’s NI bill. A typical cycle to work bike costs £600, so every one of those your team takes reduces your employer’s NI by £90. We specialise in Salary Sacrifice Nursery Fees and see employers saving thousands a year as a nursery can be the equivalent  to a new cycle to work bike every week, or every fortnight, or every couple of days. We have clients who pay over £4k every month in nursery fees, so reducing the employer’s NI as well as the employee’s income tax makes an enormous difference. Look at what you offer already, if you have cash plan, or medical benefits, a lot of those providers have a discount scheme bundled for free that allows your staff to buy discount cinema passes, to purchase digital gift cards for shopping purchases, so buying a £50 Asda voucher for £45 for example. You may have more available than you realise, and you can use the NI savings from one scheme to help finance the cost of another so you can end up with two schemes for the price of none!

The point is there is an opportunity in providing benefits to reduce the costs for the business and help wages go further. And when an employer is genuinely looking at improving the experience of their staff, that is genuinely appreciated by the staff and generates a positive culture that helps promote company loyalty in a reciprocal fashion, and when staff feel looked after, they tend to look after customers better, which all builds to a virtuous spiral, all from something that can be of no cost to the business whatsoever.