The head of the UK’s association of independent bike shops says that rising employment costs are threatening a pipeline of part-time staff members entering the bike industry.
Jonathan Harrison, Director of the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), which represents approximately 4,000 cycling-related businesses, says the government should consider targeted exemptions or support for younger or part-time workers to preserve entry-level roles into the industry.
In April, the government raised the National Living Wage to £12.71 an hour, an increase by 50p on the previous year. The national minimum wage for 18-20 year olds rose by 85p to £10.85, whilst the rate for under 18s and apprentices increased to £8 from £7.55.
The increases were recommended by the independent Low Pay Commission, which advises the government. The government accepted the commission’s proposals in full.
The government has also mandated employers formally record the statutory holiday time and pay entitlements of employers, with companies facing fines for not doing so, Employees are also eligible for statutory sick pay from the day they start employment. These reforms were included as part of the Employment Rights Act which passed into law last year.
In a statement issued via the British Independent Retail Association, Harrison said, “The Saturday lad or lass has been how generations of people fell into the cycle trade. They came in for the love of bikes, learned the ropes, and many of them went on to build careers in the industry.
“That pipeline is now under serious threat.
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“The issue isn’t simply cost in isolation. The job itself has changed. Customers expect expert advice on e-bikes, on fit, on technology. That’s a lot to ask of someone working one day a week, and when the financial risk of employing them has also risen, many shop owners are simply deciding it isn’t worth it.”
ACT also quoted Paul Kenchington, who runs The Bicycle Chain in Bridgwater, Somerset. He said, “In the early days of our business the Saturday lad or lass worked for the experience and the staff discount, with a small wage as the bonus. Some of our best people started that way.
“But the product is now complex, the marketplace is cut-throat, and the cumulative cost of employing someone one day a week has reached the point where many of us are simply stepping back.”
The association has played a role in lobbying for cycling-related policy in the past, having told Parliament in 2024 that the Cycle to Work scheme needed “urgent systemic change”. However, following the government’s decision in the last Budget not to cap the value of bikes eligible through the scheme – purportedly due to a lack of estimated income it would raise – Harrison described the scheme as “a lifeline for thousands of workers who want to swap the car for the bike, and for the independent retailers who help them do it.”
16 thoughts on ““The Saturday lad or lass is under threat”: Bike shops say minimum wage increases and better sick pay prevent them taking on part-time staff”
Whilst all the changes made are broadly good, there are a host of businesses that can and will suffer for them if they are unlucky enough to hire bad people or simply have bad luck. Small businesses are already really hard pushed to turn a profit with all the pressures of NI, wages, rent, energy costs etc so at some point we do need to find a way to support small businesses and encourage their growth rather than encouraging their demise at every opportunity by treating them in exactly the same way as big, wealthy businesses.
A country is built on the businesses people start. When all people see is risk with little chance of reward, why would they even try. Its already an issue for plenty of people who start up a one man band and grow to the size where they could and should start thinking of turning things into a proper company with employees. Do you take this risk or do you just in a comfortable place and take more holiday to avoid the pitfalls of VAT and all the issues with hiring people etc?
@mctrials23 People have been suffering for years because they have been unlucky enough to have been hired by bad people, or had the bad luck to become ill. This is just bringing the system more into balance.
I don’t have a problem with encouraging people to start businesses but I don’t agree with doing it by letting them exploit the poor and the desperate, if they need encouragement then offer state benefits for small businesses and use the claims process to make sure that they are doing everything they should to run the business properly including paying and training their employees. If they just want to get rich quick by exploiting others then they should be in the USA.
Yeah sod the workers. How dare they want to be paid a decent wage for their work. Perhaps it is due to the UK’s poor business model, poor small business support. Why is all the costs, not only monetary, pushed on the smaller businesses and workers?
It can be done, Switzerland expect people to be paid a decent wage, and it seems to work. I suppose it pushes more money back into the economy.
@Andrewbanshee Its unbelievable how short sighted the business community is, they all want people to buy more of their product but can’t see that giving them more money would enable that very outcome.
So they want to pay people a pittance “for the experience”, not record their leave accrued, have them ineligible for sickness pay, then complain about them not being experts on e-bikes, bikefitting and more?
@momove I would think that spending time training someone up, putting the time and effort into that only to have most people move on relatively quickly isn’t a great business model. I know there is the argument that “if your business has to take advantage of people to run then its not a viable business” but thats the reality of some of these shops.
Up to a point, thats exactly what apprenticeships have always been. A business get cheap labour that might help them a bit and the apprentice learns something.
The problems mentioned in this article are far more wide-ranging than simply affecting the viability of hiring Saturday lads/lasses. Fixing bikes or selling bikes now requires so much more skill and knowledge than it did 10-20 years ago, but the pay is still rubbish, partly because public perception is that the job is easy and is just a hobby. Therefore people with the ability to be good at the job are not encouraged to stick around and they look elsewhere for a career that can earn a decent wage. I don’t enjoy the fact that half the bikes that I work on have almost-unique parts that requires odd techniques, tools, or parts to repair and I first have to research what I need for many of them (despite having 20 years of experience). I’m now getting so much work that I could consider hiring someone else, but it would be impossible to find a skilled person who would work for the wage I can offer and it would take far too much of my time to train someone to a level where they can do more than the simplest 10% of the jobs that come in (whereas 10-20 years ago, after a small amount of training they probably could have done 30+% of the jobs). The complexity and uniqueness of modern bikes is apparently necessary to sell them, but soon there are going to be no mechanics left who will work for the wages that people are prepared to pay. At some point, people are going to have to admit that bike mechanics and salespeople are highly skilled and knowledgeable and should be reimbursed accordingly. Or, everyone can just order bikes online and watch YouTube repair videos and end up with a bike that barely works and isn’t safe; but that’s fine because they’re just simple kids’ toys, right?
Not talking about just bikes shops, but any business that cannot afford to pay its staff a living wage, is not a viable business.
Big companies whose staff have to claim benefits despite working full time are exploitative. And yet it’s ‘benefit scroungers’ that get attacked and demonised by the press, not the extremely wealthy, tax dodging companies not paying their staff properly. Oh, like large say newspapers businesses..
Smaller businesses like your LBS, are like poor Vs rich folk, their existence costs them more than big businesses it does due to economies of scale etc, just like rich folk can afford to buy better quality suff that lasts longer or stockpile food when it’s on offer whilst poor people have to scrape by.
Couldn’t agree more ,corporate welfare costs taxpayers way more than the single mums do .They have people angry at the wrong people on purpose ,the rich are their friends
@imajez the data on Working Family Tax Credit shows that the recipients are much more likely to be working 16 hours than 40.
The reason for that is the 16 hour threshold meets the threshold for eligibility to a wider range of benefits including housing support.
So the recipients work less and then avoid the significant costs that everyone else has to pay themselves.
Old people hoarding houses. Now they are hoarding jobs.
COVID tried to do something about it but we went and bloody cured it.
In all seriousness, if must be bleaker than ever leaving school and wondering when and if they will ever find a job.
“whilst the rate for under 18s and apprentices increased to £8 from £7.55.”
Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word increase that I wasn’t previously aware of.
@Terry Hutt I really wish the delete comment option would come back .
Yes, why can’t we edit or delete our comments if we make an error?
I find it strange that bike shops are compain8ng about people earning 10 to 12 quid an hour whilst allowing bike brands to dictate pretty much all the rules on selling bikes .I know how it works ,main brands demand x amount of sales to have their name in the shop for minimal discounts on their bikes ,then they allow bike to work to steal 20% of it too .
It’s time they got together to demand more from the industry itself ,not to underpay children or adults to work in their shops .
I was eating £12 ph 20+ years ago ,its a pittance when filling your car is £100
Talk about vested interests wanting to profiteer at the expense of their own ‘team’!
Endless excuses for inflation and greed, growth capitalism at its best. Hello.