Is Your Hospitality Business Ready for April 2026?

The rate moving from 13.8% to 15% got the headlines. The more damaging change was the threshold dropping from £9,100 to £5,000 — already in your cost base since April 2025. Part-time staff, younger workers and anyone on modest hours who sat below the old threshold now attract contributions they never did before. In hospitality, that is often the majority of a team. Now, as wages rise further in April 2026, those NIC costs increase again.

Confirmed. The main rate increases a further 4.1% on top of what you already absorbed in April 2025. The 18–20 rate rises 8.5% to £10.85/hr. Every hour your minimum wage staff work from 1 April costs you more — and that NIC liability on those extra earnings goes up with it.

RPI-linked uprating is now in effect. The industry-wide cost is estimated at £1.4 billion. If you are a pub or licensed restaurant, this is already in your cost base alongside the payroll pressure from April 2025. Draught relief provides partial mitigation for qualifying products, but the net position is a cost increase that many operators have not yet fully quantified.

There are payroll structures, VAT positions and tax arrangements that many hospitality businesses are not currently using — not through negligence, but because they are not working with a specialist. The Employment Allowance rose to £10,500 in April 2025 with eligibility broadened — many operators are not claiming the full benefit. A generalist accountant will rarely know what to look for specifically in this sector.