How UK printers can prepare for the 2025 National Insurance increase

Employer National Insurance (NI) contributions in the UK are set to rise in Apr/2025. For labour-intensive industries like print, this represents a significant shift in operating costs — one that demands forward-thinking strategies to stay competitive.

In this blog, we’ll break down what’s changing, what it means for printers, and how GelatoConnect is helping UK print providers grow — without growing their headcount.

From Apr/6/2025, the UK government will:

• Increase the employer NI rate from 13.8% to 15%

• Lower the earnings threshold from £9,100 to £5,000

• Raise the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500

The government expects this move to raise £25 billion annually. 

Who’s affected?

Any business with employees — but especially those in print manufacturing, where labour is a major component of cost.

As one UK printer told us recently:

“We’re expecting £400,000 – £600,000 in added NI costs next year. That could erase our gains unless we adapt.”

At Gelato, we speak with hundreds of printers every year. One trend is clear: manual workflows are reaching their limit.

Many printers still manage orders with 10+ human touchpoints across quoting, estimating, prepress, and job setup. This doesn’t just slow down production — it eats into margin and forces companies to hire more staff just to maintain throughput.

In a market where:

• Labour is expensive (and getting more so)

• Skilled staff are harder to find

• Customers demand faster turnaround at lower prices

• … automation isn’t optional anymore — it’s strategic.

We built GelatoConnect as a modern operating system for printers who want to grow efficiently. Here’s how we’re helping printers adapt — and thrive — as taxes rise:

✅ Automate job-based workflows Move 10–35% of job-based work into a fully digital workflow — reducing the need for manual quoting, estimating, and prepress effort.

✅ Grow without hiring Connect users are scaling production without scaling up teams. One user doubled their production volume during peak season — without a single new hire.

✅ Scale through the network Tap into Gelato’s global print network and fulfil orders across borders, removing the burden from in-house teams while opening up new revenue streams.

✅ Focus on profitability Connect automates everything from batching and ganging to inventory and procurement — giving you higher accuracy, fewer errors, and lower costs per job.

The employer NI increase is coming. But forward-thinking printers aren’t waiting to react — they’re preparing today by modernising their operations with GelatoConnect.

If you’d like to learn how we can help your business grow without growing your team, get in touch. We’re already working with leading PSPs across the UK to help them unlock efficiency, profit, and scalability.

👉 Ready to see how automation could work for you? Let’s talk. Book a call with our team and explore what a more automated, scalable print operation could look like for your business.