NICs Holiday Factsheet

Thursday 15th December 2011 Written Statements

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

In line with my commitment during the passage of the National Insurance Contributions Act 2011, I am today placing in the Libraries of both Houses a report on the functioning of the NICs holiday scheme.

The report provides information on: the number of applications received, the number of businesses benefiting in 2010-11, the amount by which they benefited and the number of jobs supported through the NICs holiday. The information is presented by region and constituency where possible. To date, just over 10,000 applications have been made for the scheme.

The holiday was announced in the June 2010 Budget and is designed to encourage the creation of private sector jobs in regions reliant on public sector employment by reducing the cost to new business of employing staff. The holiday exempts qualifying new businesses in eligible regions from up to £5,000 of employer national insurance contributions for each of the first 10 employees hired in the first 12 months of business. This is part of a wider set of policies designed to help businesses and stimulate growth in the regions.