‘Anxiety is at its maximum level’: cost of living crisis hits UK businesses
The UK’s cost of living crisis escalated in December, as inflation jumped to its highest level in almost 30 years at 5.4%.
The Bank of England expects the consumer prices index will climb to about 6% by April, and the International Monetary Fund warned inflation and Omicron will dent global growth in 2022.
As inflation climbs the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is under pressure to rethink April’s hike in National Insurance as business large and small face spiralling costs.
Five businesses speak about how inflation and rising energy costs are affecting them.
Davide Angeletti, coffee shop owner When the gas bill arrived Davide Angeletti assumed it must be a mistake. His supplier told him it was correct.
“It’s terrible, in the space of three months the energy price doubled,” said Angeletti, the 51-year-old owner of Ovenbird Coffee roastery in Glasgow. He sells mostly to other businesses and, during the early pandemic, was supplying free coffee to hospitals.
Angeletti was hit by surging energy costs when his supplier People’s Energy went bust in September. He was switched over to Scottish Gas. “I used to pay in a peak time £500 a month, which was manageable, and now I have £1,100 or £1,200 – we don’t know what to do.”
The company’s energy rate jumped from 16.52p to 30.972p per kilowatt hour, plus a 139.330p pKWh standing charge during the handover. It wasn’t just energy; raw materials from Europe have soared, such as a pallet of raw coffee climbing from £90 (“before Brexit”) to £300-350 now.
It means Angeletti must weigh up layoffs from his eight staff. “I want to keep them, we are a big family,” he said. Staff have rent to pay and are applying for mortgages. “To tell them, ‘Sorry guys I can’t afford you’ is one of the worst things I
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