Maldon petting zoo to freeze staff pay after minimum wage announcement

James Williams says staff will have their pay frozen next year due to the rise in minimum wage.

Owners of a zoo said a rise in the minimum wage would mean they could not afford to give a staff a pay rise for the first time in its history.

In the Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the hourly rate is set to rise to £11.44 from April.

James Williams, co-director of Maldon Promenade Petting Zoo, said the change would be "hard" on small businesses.

"There isn't much support out there to help us", Mr Williams told the BBC.

"We've got to try and absorb as much as we can without impacting on our visitors."

'Difficult for any small business'

The minimum wage, known officially as the National Living Wage, is currently £10.42 an hour for workers over 23 years old.

But Mr Hunt has decided the new rate of £11.44 would also apply to 21 and 22-year-olds for the first time.

Mr Williams said it puts business owners like himself in a difficult position.

"You might have a student coming out of college, not got that much experience, but we've got to try and find a way to pay them what the new national living wage is," he added.

Mr Williams says he wants to reward his staff 'but there's only so much reward you can do'.

"That's difficult for any small business to be able to pay that when they haven't necessarily got that practical experience.

"Obviously we're going to help them get that experience through training - but it's hard."

Mr Williams said while eligible staff, who were older than 21 years old and currently earning less than £11.44, would be given minimum wage, workers who were already earning more would have their pay frozen.

"We like to be able to reward our staff, but there's only so much reward you can do, unless you're going to pass that expense on," he said.

Baby reindeer

Maldon Promenade Petting Zoo has traded for eight years and has been a permanent fixture in Promenade Park since 2018.

The zoo has 70 species and 80% of them were rescued.

This year, the zoo added another reindeer to its collection after baby Hailee was born in May. She is now one of four reindeer living at the zoo, with five others at the zoo's private farm in Southminster.

The nine reindeer are expensive residents, reportedly costing £44,000 a year in total to feed and keep.

Hailee will soon experience her first Christmas at the zoo

"We've got a great team of zoo keepers," he added.

They recognise times are tough so they're working reduced hours and even giving some of their own time to make sure all of our animals have got everything they need, every single day."

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