“We don’t have to put hiring on hold”
Jenny Latimer, Operations Director, Highgate
Growth credentials: Highgate ranked 22nd in the recent Oxygen Fast-Growth 50 2025, having grown average monthly headcount from eight to 28 between its fiscal 2020 and 2023. It currently employs 43 staff, with revenues last year swelling by nearly 50% to £22.5m.
Will the national insurance hike have any bearing on your recruitment plans?
Over the last few years, it feels that businesses have been faced with an endless cycle of various costs just going up.
Corp tax, energy rates, insurance, rental, hardware and software, supply, couriers, plus, so many more, and now NI.
When there are rises in tax, and NI, the only option is to pay it. There are no cost-saving routes to look at or go down, it is simply a must.
Whilst the rises in NI are never welcome, we (Highgate) are in a fortunate position, to not have to put our hiring on hold.
I think this can be attributed to our operating model, and therefore, we have not been impacted by as many rises as some other resellers would have been.
Being 100% remote, and having no warehousing too, we have not been impacted directly by the increases in operating costs such as, rental, energy, couriers and fuel.
For those that have, the NI rise will be yet another blow to the bottom line. And, for those that are operating on tight profits already, the NI increase could be the difference in them turning a profit or not, and that’s before increasing headcount it taken into consideration.
Article continues on final page…
