Business leaders warn that upcoming minimum wage hikes will reduce job opportunities for young people as companies face rising costs and plan to hire more experienced workers instead.

Asda boss Allan Leighton said hiring young people involves 'more hurdles than the Grand National' as next week's 8.5% minimum wage hike to £10.85/hour for 18-20 year-olds and 4.1% hike to £12.71/hour for those 21+ leads 50% of employers to plan recruiting more experienced workers and nearly a third to reduce entry-level roles, costing hospitality and retail employers an extra £3.3bn annually.