Rising National Insurance Costs:

Businesses across the UK are facing rising costs, and the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) for employers is yet another financial challenge they must prepare for. With employment costs set to rise from 6 April 2025, construction, modular building, and trade industries must find effective ways to cut costs, optimise efficiency, and maintain profitability.

A key strategy for offsetting these rising costs is streamlining procurement and stock management—ensuring businesses only pay for what they truly need, reducing waste, and improving operational efficiency. This is where FixFirm’s innovative solutions, ProcureSite and SlickStock, can help.

What will the NIC increase mean for your business? How it will impact your bottom line, how to streamline your procurement process and stock management can help mitigate these costs.

What Does the National Insurance Increase Mean for Employers?

From 6 April 2025, the employer National Insurance contribution rate will rise from 13.8% to 15%. Additionally, the threshold at which businesses start paying NICs will decrease from £9,100 to £5,000.

How This Impacts Businesses:

Higher Employment Costs – The increased NIC rate means businesses will pay more per employee.

Lower Tax-Free Threshold – More of each employee’s salary will now be subject to NICs.

Reduced Cash Flow – Less capital available for business operations, expansion, or investment.

Tighter Profit Margins – Companies with large workforces will see a significant rise in payroll expenses.

A Greater Need for Cost Efficiency – Businesses must cut unnecessary spending elsewhere to maintain profitability.

For industries like modular construction, where labour, material procurement, and logistics costs are already high, this increase could put even more pressure on budgets and project timelines.

The key to navigating these rising costs is finding ways to improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary spending—which can be achieved through streamlining procurement and stock management.




How Streamlining Procurement and Stock Management Can Offset NIC Costs

While the National Insurance increase is unavoidable, businesses can reduce its impact by controlling stock usage, optimising procurement, and eliminating unnecessary expenses.

FixFirm’s solutions—ProcureSite and SlickStock—help companies improve efficiency, reduce stock wastage, and prevent financial leaks.

ProcureSite: Smarter Procurement, Lower Costs

ProcureSite is an innovative stock management system designed to help construction, modular building, and trade businesses identify areas of leakage and inefficiencies in their existing purchasing process and eliminate them through our intuitive portal. See here (link) and contact our sales team for a live demonstration today.

Everyone knows when things are going pretty well, we can all take our eye off the ball and get complacent with rising employment costs; now is the time to act to reduce your costs with a purchasing portal such as the Fixfirm ProcureSite. Businesses can no longer afford waste, excess stock, or inefficiencies in their procurement processes. ProcureSite eliminates these risks by automating stock management, ensuring businesses purchase only what they truly need.

Key Benefits of ProcureSite:

- Real-Time Stock Tracking – Prevents over-ordering and ensures stock availability
- Secure Portal ordering - Buyers and site users can see open information on order status
- Multi-Site Stock Control – Personal Product Lists ensure standardisation and speed up the order process
- Improved Cost Control and Reporting – Provides full clarity down to individual data points

ProcureSite enables businesses to improve procurement efficiency, reduce waste, and take back control of spending—all crucial in the face of rising employment costs.

Find out more about ProcureSite here.

SlickStock: Reduce Stock Waste and Increase Efficiency

SlickStock is designed to help businesses gain full control over inventory, reduce stock waste, and improve procurement decisions.

With labour costs rising due to NIC increases, every pound spent on materials must be optimised. SlickStock helps businesses eliminate financial inefficiencies through precise stock control.

For modular construction companies, stock shortages, mismanagement, and over-ordering can cause project delays and financial losses. ProcureSite ensures materials are always available when needed without tying up capital in excess stock.

Key Benefits of SlickStock:

- Dramatically Reduce Man Hours – Our mission is to minimise all labour your staff spend on stock management and handling gaining even greater savings now with labour costs as they are.
- Prevents Stock Shortages – Ensures materials are available when needed.
- Reduces Holding Costs – Optimises stock levels to avoid unnecessary storage costs.
- Multi-Site Stock Management – Tracks inventory across different locations.
- Data-Driven Insights – Provides purchasing analytics to improve procurement efficiency.

By implementing SlickStock, businesses can streamline procurement and stock management, reduce costs, and offset the impact of rising employment expenses.

Discover how SlickStock can help your business save money.

Why Now Is the Time to Act

With rising employment costs, fluctuating material prices, and ongoing economic pressures, businesses must take proactive steps to maintain profitability. The employer NIC increase from April 2025 is inevitable, but controlling costs today can help businesses stay ahead.

Rather than resorting to staff reductions or project cutbacks, companies can offset these increased costs through smarter procurement and stock control.

By adopting FixFirm’s ProcureSite and SlickStock solutions, businesses can:

- Ensure full visibility over stock and procurement processes.
- Reduce waste and unnecessary expenditure.
- Improve efficiency and maintain strong profit margins.
- Offset the rising cost of National Insurance.

The National Insurance increase will put financial pressure on businesses, but it doesn’t have to negatively impact profitability. Through smarter stock management and procurement strategies, businesses can safeguard their cash flow and continue to thrive.

Now is the time to future-proof your business. Speak to FixFirm today about how ProcureSite and SlickStock can help you save money and improve efficiency.