AFTER a meeting regarding their annual report, Capital Theatres has confirmed that they will spend £70,000 more this year due to increases in National Insurance.
In the past year the theatres brought in more than 130,000 people to watch Hamilton alone, and over 340,000 audience members altogether.
Last year, the UK Government announced that the rate of employer National Insurance contributions would increase from 13.8% to 15% in April 2025.
The rises have resulted in a possible cost increase of £35m for City of Edinburgh Council, most of which is internal, with some extending to organisations such as Edinburgh Leisure, Lothian Buses, and Capital Theatres.
Director of place for Capital Theatres Fiona Gibson spoke at yesterday’s Culture and Communities Committee meeting, outlining the findings in their Annual Report 2023/24.
She spoke of changes to aid the environment, such as ceasing the sale of toys made of single-use plastic in their pantomimes, which has resulted in a £30,000 “investment in green”.
There were also updates regarding ongoing development at Leven Street’s King’s Theatre, which began in 2022 and will wrap up this year.
Fiona stated that the project is costing £40.7m, with a funding gap of around £3.5m and still has a “long way to go”.
Conservative Councillor Marie-Clair Munro for Morningside asked the director if the increase in National Insurance payments this year poses a concern for Capital Theatres, and what measures are in place to combat this.
Fiona replied: “It’s definitely a concern. For us it’s an increase of about £70,000 to our payroll bill.
“We have 230 staff so that’s a lot of money. Of course that’s beyond all of our control, but that’s the impact.
“We have hopefully quite a solid unrestricted reserves policy which ensures we have at least three months of operating costs at all times, and we keep our operating sales reserve completely separate so it can’t be dipped into because that would obviously be a massive creditor risk.
“So we have a solid fiduciary approach to how we manage our business but that doesn’t take away from external factors like energy costs which are very high in the long term.
“It comes back to having the right stuff on our stages, getting audiences through the door, having proper pricing – accessible pricing that will allow people who can afford it to almost contribute to how we’re going to keep the charity going.”
The venue also confirmed that they will continue to pay the real living wage for as long as they can, and any changes to this decision will be communicated clearly with employees and audiences.