Tackling Autumn Budget 2024 Changes Head-On 

Smarter spend management strategies can offset rising NI costs. Here are four ways to protect your cash flow. 

The Autumn Budget 2024 brings some significant changes for UK businesses.  

Higher National Insurance Contributions (NICs), increased wages, and new thresholds mean that businesses across the board will face rising costs.    

So, how can your business face the changes while staying financially strong? By rethinking how you manage business-wide spending.  

At Soldo, we witness how smart spend management helps businesses control costs without sacrificing growth or quality every day.    

In this blog, we’ll answer:    

• What’s changing for businesses in the Autumn Budget 2024?    

• How will rising costs in the Autumn Budget 2024 affect businesses?    

• How can businesses use spend management to control costs? 

• What tools/strategies can improve your spend management?    

• Which strategies can strengthen your financial governance?    

Let’s get started.  

What’s changing for businesses in the Autumn Budget 2024?   

Starting in April 2025, UK businesses will face:    

• Employers National Insurance Contributions: increasing from 13.8% to 15%.    

• Employers NIC threshold: lowering from £9,100 to £5,000 per year.    

• National Living Wage increasing to £12.21 for employees aged 21 and above. 

• National Minimum Wage rates rising for younger workers: 
  • Aged 18-20: £10.00
  • Aged 16-17 and apprentices: £7.55  

• Employment Allowance: doubling from £5,000 to £10,500, offering some relief for smaller businesses.    

How will rising costs outlined in the Autumn Budget 2024 affect businesses?    

The Autumn Budget 2024 introduces significant changes that will impact businesses of all sizes, particularly those in labour-intensive industries.  

These shifts, from higher NICs to rising wage costs, demand careful financial planning.  

Here’s a closer look at the key measures and their implications for businesses: 

• Higher NIC rates: It’s going to cost more to employ staff. Businesses will need to allocate more of their budget to NICs, especially for higher-paid roles. 

• Lower NIC thresholds: More employees, including part-time and lower-paid workers, will now be subject to NICs. This is going to impact sectors with lower-paid workers, like retail and hospitality.    

• Wage increases: Labour costs will rise significantly, especially in industries with many minimum-wage workers. For businesses in care, retail, and hospitality, this could be particularly concerning.    

• National minimum wage increase: Businesses that rely on younger workers – in industries like retail, fast food, childcare – will see wage costs rise.    

• Employment Allowance boost: For smaller businesses, this increase in allowance offers some relief. But, for larger employers, it may only offset a small portion of the overall cost increase.   

The bottom line: businesses, particularly those in labour-heavy industries or operating on tight margins, will need to rethink their approach to spending to stay afloat.    

What tools/strategies can improve your spend management?    

Here are some tools and strategies to help you get ahead of rising costs and improve your financial management:    

1. Optimise operational spending: Take control of your costs by focusing on the essentials, such as employee benefits or training, while identifying areas to streamline for greater efficiency. 

2. Automate expense management: Digitise your expense tracking to see where every pound is going quickly. It will help you identify inefficiencies and keep your finances on track.    

3. Enable cost transparency: Give your teams the tools to see where they’re spending, especially on recurring costs like travel or office supplies. Transparency helps everyone stay on the same page.  

4. Leverage budget controls: Empower your finance team with tools that allow them to allocate and control budgets more effectively, helping to reduce unnecessary expenses.   

5. Adopt a progressive financial mindset: Use modern financial tools that free up resources, letting your team focus on growing the business, even as costs increase.    

How are businesses using spend management to control costs?    

Optimising your spending and making the most of every penny is always important. The Autumn Budget 2024’s impact makes it even more urgent. 

Controlling costs, boosting productivity, and keeping up growth are no longer just priorities—it’s the move that will offset rising costs and survive.    

At Soldo, we know that better spend governance can make all the difference. By gaining better control over your finances, you can spot inefficiencies and reduce waste without sacrificing quality or growth.    

Here are three examples to show how spend management works in practice:   

• Coffee #1, a beloved British coffee shop chain, transformed how they managed spending across 100+ locations with a cash-free solution. Gaining real-time visibility into every transaction gave them full control over their spend. The result? A leap from just 10% to 100% of receipts being verifiable, ensuring accountability and unlocking smoother operations. 

• Making Space, a UK-based health and social care charity reclaimed valuable time by automating their expense management, cutting reconciliation from six days a month to just half a day. This shift allowed them to focus on mission-critical work – especially during the pandemic when fast, decisive action was essential to supporting those in need.  

• GetYourGuide, a global leader in travel experiences, empowered their team with greater visibility into company transactions. By implementing smarter financial controls, they identified inefficiencies early, optimised their spending, and seized new opportunities – leading to a 14% boost in sales and unlocking their next phase of growth.    
   

Smarter spend management isn’t just about saving money. It’s about building a stronger, more resilient financial base for your business. And with costs rising, there’s no better time to make better spend governance a priority.