The Association of Convenience Stores has called for a freeze on the minimum wage to help shop owners struggling to meet rising costs.
The organisation has asked the Low Pay Commission to act after reviewing evidence suggesting that small retail businesses are being held back by yearly increases in staff costs.
The results have come from a survey of over 600 convenience store owners who collectively employ nearly 9,000 people. It revealed that 80 per cent of those asked had been forced to cut working hours for staff and 74 per cent had experienced problems with expansion plans, due to money worries.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Unaffordable increases in the minimum wage are holding retailers back from making the investments necessary to grow their businesses.”
"There is no doubt that the recent increases in the minimum wage have come at a bad time for retailers as they struggle with increasing costs and squeezes on profitability. We are urging the Low Pay Commission not to add to that burden [...] until at least 2014."
