National Insurance (Contributions) Bill

Baroness Primarolo Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

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

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment (a), at end insert—

‘(13) The Treasury shall publish a review of the level of youth unemployment as at December 2013 and the effect on the level of youth unemployment if the amendments made in this section were required to be brought into force on 6 April 2014.’.

[Mr Gauke]

New clause 3 brings forward an important initiative announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement of last week. He announced that employers employing workers under the age of 21 would no longer have to pay employers’ class 1 national insurance contributions. Proposed new section 9A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and its Northern Ireland equivalent bring this into effect by introducing a zero rate of secondary class 1 NICs for all employers on the earnings of employees under the age of 21. As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor made clear, the Government believe this measure will, alongside other initiatives on apprenticeships and work experience placements, help to address the problem of youth unemployment in the United Kingdom. The measure will apply both to new and existing employees aged under 21 and is not time limited.