Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the change in rate of the National Living wage in April 2023 on the financial viability of employers in (a) pharmacies and (b) other SMEs in Meriden constituency.

The Government published an Impact Assessment that outlines the expected impacts of the change in the National Living Wage in April 2023: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/354/impacts

Overall, research to-date has not found a significant impact of the National Living wage on business failures. On average, the average total cost per business affected by the policy was between £3,000 to £4,000. We expect around 40% of the costs of this policy to be borne by small and micro businesses and 15% by medium sized businesses.

The available data does not enable a statistically reliable assessment of costs of the policy by constituency.