British businesses have adjusted their hiring and wage expansion strategies this month, as indicated by a survey released on Wednesday, suggesting that the impending significant increase in

April's minimum wage is impacting employers.

With the Bank of England closely monitoring signs of inflation easing sufficiently to consider interest rate cuts, the Lloyds Bank Business Barometer's gauge of staffing intentions - the difference between firms planning to hire and those intending cuts - declined to 27% from February's nearly two-year peak of 36%. The long-term average for this measure is 22%.

Additionally, the proportion of firms anticipating wage hikes of 3% or more over the next 12 months dipped slightly to 33% from 35%.

Hann-Ju Ho, a senior economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, noted, "It's possible the imminent minimum wage increases in April are becoming more apparent for businesses – particularly smaller enterprises."

Next month, the UK's minimum wage will rise by almost 10%, prompting some supermarkets and retailers paying just above minimum wage to preemptively raise wages.

Despite signs of a slowdown, the Bank of England, which maintained interest rates last week, has observed sustained high wage growth.

The Lloyds survey also revealed that overall business confidence remained stable at a net 42%.

In a separate analysis, the Resolution Foundation think tank highlighted the transformative impact of Britain's introduction of the minimum wage 25 years ago. The policy has resulted in low earners' pay being £6,000 ($7,600) higher than it would have been if it had kept pace with typical wage growth.

Nye Cominetti, principal economist at the think tank, hailed the minimum wage's introduction as "the single most successful economic policy in a generation," noting that the proportion of workers on low pay has dropped from 22% in 1999 to 9% in 2023. Moreover, Britain's minimum wage now ranks among the highest relative to typical wages among advanced economies, akin to France and South Korea. Photo by Doyle of London, Wikimedia commons.