National insurance contributions - UK Autumn Budget 2024

The government has taken the decision to increase employers National Insurance contributions by 1.2 percent to 15 percent from 6 April 2025. The secondary threshold will reduce to £5,000 (previously £9,100). The secondary threshold is the level at which an employer is liable to pay National Insurance on each employee’s salary.

The government has increased the Employment Allowance to £10,500 (previously £5,000). The allowance will also be extended to all eligible employers by removing the £100,000 cap. This means that businesses will be able to employ up to four workers on the National Living Wage on a full-time basis without a liability to employers’ National Insurance arising.

The government has not raised employee National Insurance at this time. This will ensure that the tax burden on individual workers is not increased further (we note that the tax burden has increased due to lack of indexation of the tax bands relative to inflation). The income tax and National Insurance contributions thresholds will be unfrozen from 2028-29 onwards.