A major Okehampton employer has take the Budget announcement in its stride.

Forthglade manufactures pet food at its factory in the town.

The company already pays more than the national minimum wage. This will rise from £12.21 an hour to £12.71 an hour in April, it was announced in the Budget on Wednesday.

Forthglade’s CEO David Cox said: “Forthglade remains in a good place despite the recent increase in National Insurance and the financial impact of increased packaging taxes from last year.

“Understandably, both have had a material impact on Forthglade’s fiscal performance, but growth remains strong, especially within our direct-to-consumer channel – where more people are joining our community of dog-lovers.

“At Forthglade, we’re committed to supporting our employees and despite over a 4% rise in the National Minimum Wage and additional external economic pressures our basic hourly rate for front-line staff remains above the national minimum wage increase.

“Additionally, we provide an employee assistance programme, wellbeing sessions and activities and continue to identify additional initiatives to support our employees both in and out of the workplace. We want Forthglade to be a great place to work by offering stable, quality employment for local people.”