INDUSTRY NEWS
Autumn Budget Employer Solutions: How Rewards and Benefits Can Bridge the Gap

In what has been an uncertain and challenging year, the Autumn Budget has been anxiously anticipated by many UK employers in their workforce planning for 2025 and beyond. Now the Budget has been announced, what are the key changes HR, Rewards and Benefits leaders can expect? Following this summer’s general election, Labour’s manifesto pledged greater job security, better pay and more autonomy in the workplace to better empower working people, causing many organisations to begin preparations for change as early as January.
So, how have these translated in the Autumn Budget’s key outcomes and how can businesses best pivot their People strategies in response?
Let’s dive in.
The Autumn Budget: 4 key learnings for HR, Rewards and Benefits leaders
1. National Insurance hike:
With the increase from 13.8% to 15% in National Insurance tax and lower salary threshold for employers now confirmed, this will impact many businesses’ direct headcount costs. Whilst some smaller businesses will benefit from the enhanced Employment Allowance (rising from £5,000 to £10,500), this will support only a small proportion of UK businesses. As employers will need to start considering how they will absorb the increased national insurance costs, the biggest impact is likely to be slowed workforce growth as employers look to pause hiring. This not only poses a higher attrition risk, but presents productivity challenges due to damaged employee morale from already over-stretched teams.
Rippl’s perspective:
The past few years have presented an increasingly difficult market for employers when increasing salary rates or team headcounts has been unfeasible for many. This has meant businesses have needed to adopt alternative approaches to complement traditional compensation in order to incentivise and retain their existing teams. Investment in employee benefits and rewards has become ever more popular in not only enhancing compensation but supporting employees with the cost of living. At Rippl, we’re seeing more of our customers lean on benefits such as Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle schemes to not only offer a salary sacrifice perk for employees to take advantage of, but so they can also benefit from employer national insurance savings of up to 13.8%.
Example salary sacrifice savings:
Let’s take an example company with 500 employees. If 10% (50 employees) opt into a salary sacrifice scheme like Cycle to Work with an average annual sacrifice of £1,200 per employee, this decreases the employer’s NI liability.
- Cycle to Work Example:
- Salary sacrifice per employee: £1,200
- NI savings per employee at new 15% rate: £180 per employee
- Total NI savings across 50 employees: £9,000 annually
Now, let’s say a portion of this workforce also takes advantage of a salary sacrifice Electric Vehicle scheme, where the average salary sacrifice is higher due to vehicle lease costs. If another 5% of employees (25 people) opt into such a scheme, with an average annual sacrifice of £7,000 per employee:
- Electric Vehicle Example:
- Salary sacrifice per employee: £7,000
- NI savings per employee at new 15% rate: £1,050 per employee
- Total NI savings across 25 employees: £26,250 annually
This example demonstrates that through effective utilisation of salary sacrifice schemes, a company of this size could save over £35,000 annually in employer National Insurance contributions. These savings can be offset against the rising costs from the new National Insurance rates or reinvested into employee wellbeing and recognition initiatives.
2. Increased health and social care funding:
With the government investing billions into the NHS to clear waiting lists and upgrade critical health services, businesses must recognise their own role in supporting the holistic wellbeing of their workforce. While public initiatives aim to improve access to healthcare, mental health support in the workplace has become a non-negotiable for many employees—especially those facing potential burnout or stress due to workload increases.
Rippl’s expertise:
At Rippl, we know that comprehensive wellbeing doesn’t stop at compensation or basic benefits. Employers must be proactive in offering tailored support for every pillar of their workforce’s wellbeing. From mental health resources and robust EAP (Employee Assistance Programmes) to community-driven EDI initiatives, Rippl’s platform provides a wide range of tools to ensure employees feel supported, no matter their personal health challenges.
Companies that provide tangible wellbeing solutions not only enhance their employee value proposition but also contribute directly to reducing absenteeism, improving productivity, and increasing employee satisfaction—outcomes that naturally enhance talent retention. That’s why Rippl enables every customer to tailor their wellbeing offer from our benefits catalogue and wellbeing resource hub, as well as dedicated EDI community groups for internal champions to support this further.
3. Increased minimum wage:
With the UK’s legal minimum wage rising by 6.7% for over-21’s and 16.3% for 18 to 20-year-olds, we’re likely to see better support for emerging talent generations in the workforce. However, particularly for employers with younger majority workforces, such as those within predominantly frontline industries, this poses cost hikes which in turn risk their ‘revolving door’ retention challenges to intensify through hiring pauses and overstretched teams. Similarly, pay rises for other demographics of the workforce are likely to become unfeasible, risking higher disengagement and attrition.
Rippl’s perspective:
In this landscape of rising costs, the need to connect, reward and motivate employees at scale becomes even more critical to maintaining engagement and retention. Employers must adopt a flexible, comprehensive reward strategy that ensures all employees feel valued, regardless of wage amendments or restrictions. This is particularly essential for frontline industries, where teams may be deskless and dispersed. By enabling mobile-first engagement and offering personalised, non-monetary recognition that reaches every corner of the workforce, businesses can boost morale, engagement, and loyalty, even when resources are stretched.
At Rippl, we empower businesses to navigate these challenges by delivering mobile-first engagement solutions tailored to every demographic. Rippl’s platform champions fair and consistent recognition across the entire organisation, ensuring that all employees, whether on the floor or in the office, feel appreciated for their efforts during challenging times.
4. No extended freeze on employee tax thresholds:
With no continuation of the freeze on income tax thresholds, more employees are likely to feel the squeeze of unchanging tax bands against the rate of inflation as the cost of living continues to rise for many. For many employees, their disposable income is limited and for businesses, across-the-board pay rises remain unfeasible, posing productivity and retention risks to many UK workforces.
Rippl’s perspective:
A challenging climate is likely to continue for some time, requiring businesses to adopt modernised approaches to how they champion competitive compensation, as well as how they meaningfully support employees with the cost of living. Now more than ever, HR teams need to reinforce the importance of non-monetary rewards and benefits for their people to sustain morale when salary increases are unfeasible. Offering lifestyle discounts and offers go a long way in holistically supporting teams in their everyday lives – with Rippl, employees can save up to £725 per year on their weekly shop through supermarket discounts, and up to £2,480 in total using all offers available.
If you are looking for solutions that will support your business in national insurance savings through enhanced benefits for your workforce, or are simply looking for a way to improve engagement with your people to improve retention and satisfaction, request a demo with Rippl to see how we can help.
Sector Spotlights: Employee Engagement Challenges & Solutions

Manufacturing
The deskless divide is particularly magnified within the manufacturing sector, as employers struggle to empower and retain the people behind their production lines.

Aviation & Aerospace
With 85% of its workforce operating on the frontline, the aerospace and aviation industry faces key barriers to connecting, engaging and rewarding its employees.
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