Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the CBI, has warned that George Osborne’s apprenticeship levy could cause “significant” job losses. She said that in low-paid sectors such as retailing, hospitality, care and food manufacturing, job losses were “inevitable” as companies are already grappling with the higher national living wage that starts in April, higher pension costs and a government failure to reform business rates. Ms Fairbairn also dismissed the argument frequently cited by the chancellor that the government has reduced the tax burden on business by cutting the headline rate of corporation tax. “It is no longer the biggest part of the tax burden; it has been overtaken by business rates. If you are loss-making, you don’t pay corporation tax anyway.”
