Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes made to National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on not-for-profit social care providers.

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs. Private sector firms or charities, including social care providers, that are contracted by central or local government will not be exempt from these changes.

This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Spending Review process.

The government is providing a real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of around 3.2% which includes £1.3bn of new grant funding for 2025-26 – at least £600 million of which is new grant funding to support social care.

The government also provides support for charities, including hospices, via our tax regime, which is among the most generous of anywhere in the world, with tax reliefs for charities and their donors, worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.