National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

Baroness Neville-Rolfe Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 25th February 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

12: Clause 2, page 1, line 12, after “£96” insert “or,
(b) for a person providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities, £175.”Member’s explanatory statement
Exemption for SEND Transport: This amendment would exempt employers providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities from the Government’s planned changes to the weekly threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

14: Clause 2, page 1, line 12, after “£96” insert “or,
(b) for a charity that has an annual revenue of less than £1 million, £175.”Member’s explanatory statement
Exemption for small charities: This amendment would exempt charities that have an annual revenue of less than £1 million from the Government’s planned changes to the weekly threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

19: Clause 2, page 1, line 14, after “substitute” insert—
“(i) for a person providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities, £758, and(ii) in all other cases,”Member's explanatory statement
Exemption for SEND Transport: This amendment would exempt employers providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities from the Government’s planned changes to the monthly threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

21: Clause 2, page 1, line 14, after “substitute” insert—
“(i) for a charity that has an annual revenue of less than £1 million, £758, and(ii) in all other cases,”Member's explanatory statement
Exemption for small charities: This amendment would exempt charities that have an annual revenue of less than £1 million from the Government’s planned changes to the monthly threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

26: Clause 2, page 1, line 15, after "substitute" insert—
“(i) for a person providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities, £9,100, and(ii) in all other cases,”Member's explanatory statement
Exemption for SEND Transport: This amendment would exempt employers providing transport for children with special educational needs or disabilities from the Government’s planned changes to the annual threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

28: Clause 2, page 1, line 15, after "substitute" insert—
“(i) for a charity that has an annual revenue of less than £1 million, £9,100, and(ii) in all other cases,”Member's explanatory statement
Exemption for small charities: This amendment would exempt charities that have an annual revenue of less than £1 million from the Government’s planned changes to the annual threshold.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

33: Clause 3, page 1, line 20, at end insert—
“(2A) At end of section 1(2)(b), insert “or,(c) for an employer in the early years sector, £20,000.””Member's explanatory statement
This amendment, and another in the name of Baroness Neville-Rolfe to this Clause, would increase the employment allowance for employers in the early years sector from £10,500 to £20,000.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords, I wish to test the opinion of the House.

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Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

37: After Clause 3, insert the following new Clause—
“Review of effect on economic growthThe Chancellor of the Exchequer must, within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, lay before Parliament a review of the impact of the measures contained in this Act on the rate of economic growth in the United Kingdom.”Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment would require a review of the impact of the measures in this Act on economic growth within six months of the day on which it is passed.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to my amendments in this group and to Amendment 42 in the name of my noble friend Lady Lawlor.

One of the difficulties the House has faced in dealing with this Bill has been the Government’s refusal to provide official estimates of the effects they expect the proposals to have on the individual sectors of the economy where its effects are likely to be the most profound. When we discussed their assessment in Committee, the Minister referred us to the impact note published on 13 November 2024. But I am afraid it is a very limited document, with only five pages of substantive text and no detailed assessment of the impact of the national insurance charge on a number of very important areas. Given the harm this policy will have in the many sectors we have already discussed, it is vital that the Government assess this properly. So, as a second-best measure, we have suggested additions to the Bill requiring the Government to look at the various areas of concern and make an assessment of the effect of the NICs changes—including the employment allowance, which should of course limit the damage to the very smallest businesses.

My Amendment 38 would require a sector-by-sector analysis of the impacts of the Government’s jobs tax. I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady Noakes and the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, for supporting the amendment. It includes key areas that are adversely affected but that we have barely discussed today, notably hospitality, the creative industries and retail, whose challenges were starkly set out in Committee by my noble friend Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, with his unique experience of the sector.

Amendment 37 seeks to establish the Government’s view on the effect of the jobs tax on economic growth. We know that economic growth is the Chancellor’s number one policy, so I hope the Minister will be able to give the House some clarity on the Government’s expectations in this area. I also support my noble friend Lady Lawlor’s Amendment 42 and look forward to hearing from her.

We are very concerned about the Government’s failure to publish a full sector-by-sector impact assessment for this policy. I therefore intend to test the opinion of the House on my Amendment 38.

[Baroness Noakes (Con)]

My Lords, I have added my name to my noble friend’s amendment. We debated impact assessments several times in Committee and the Minister’s reply was always the same formula. It went along the lines of: “HMRC has published a tax information note”—which the rest of the Committee thought was wholly inadequate—“and the Government never do any more than this on tax legislation. The Government intend to do no more in respect of this Bill”. That was not a proper debate on impact assessments. The formula hardly changed over the four days we spent in Committee. The Minister eventually cited some precedents, but they were much smaller in scale and different in impact, and provided a precedent only really for the fact that the Treasury treats Parliament with contempt when it comes to providing full information on legislation. It is about time that Parliament stood up to the Treasury. I urge noble Lords to support my noble friend’s Amendment 38.

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[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)]

My Lords, I will briefly address the new clauses proposed by the noble Baronesses, Lady Neville-Rolfe, Lady Noakes and Lady Lawlor, requiring the Government to conduct assessments on the economic and sectoral impacts of this Bill. As we discussed extensively in Committee, the Government have published an assessment of this policy in HMRC’s tax information and impact note. This sets out that around 250,000 employers will see their secondary class 1 NICs liability decrease and around 940,000 will see it increase; around 820,000 employers will see no change. The OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook sets out the expected macroeconomic impact of the changes to employer national insurance contributions on employment, on growth and on inflation. The Government and the OBR have, therefore, already set out the impacts of this policy change. The information provided is in line with other similar tax changes, and the Government do not intend to publish further assessments. The Government will, of course, continue to monitor the impact of these policies in the usual way. As a result, I respectfully ask noble Lords not to press their amendments.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I thank the Minister for his reply, but I am sorry that he does not feel able to go further. I am particularly grateful to my noble friends Lady Noakes, Lady Lawlor and Lord Hodgson, and the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, for their support, and I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, that the time has come to take a stand. I do not share the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell. This is the sort of assessment that we do in the private sector, and in some other departments, and it is possible for the Government to add to the amendment in the other House if they feel they need to do so. We heard earlier from my noble friend Lord Ahmad that the Treasury had failed to consult individual sectors on the proposals under discussion. I know how averse the Treasury can be to that, having been a Minister in a similar position in the Treasury. I also share the fascination of the noble Lord, Lord Davies with the state of the National Insurance Fund, but I think that is for another day.

The Government’s impact assessment has been woefully inadequate for a change on such a huge scale. It is in the interests of the public that we understand fully the impact of the Government’s jobs tax on individual sectors—albeit retrospectively—and the overall figures that we have received from the Minister, which have been helpful in themselves, are just not enough. So I intend to test the opinion of the House on my Amendment 38, but in the meantime I beg leave to withdraw my Amendment 37.

Amendment 37 withdrawn.

Moved by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

38: After Clause 3, insert the following new Clause—
“Review of effect on certain sectors(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, within six months of the day on which the Act is passed, lay before Parliament a review of the impact of the measures contained in this Act on the persons and sectors in subsection (2). (2) The review must consider the impact on—(a) charities;(b) creative industries;(c) dentists;(d) early years providers;(e) farms;(f) general practitioners;(g) hospices;(h) hospitality;(i) pharmacies;(j) retail;(k) small businesses;(l) social care;(m) universities.”Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment would require a review of the impact of the measures in this Act on certain sectors within six months of the day on which it is passed.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I wish to test the opinion of the House.