Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in (a) employer National Insurance contributions and (b) the National Minimum Wage on small and medium businesses in (a) Kent and (b) Weald of Kent constituency.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy, including the impact on businesses and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-secondary-threshold-the-secondary-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-rate-and-the-empl/changes-to-the-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-secondary-threshold-the-secondary-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-rate-and-the-empl

The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.

The Impact Assessment for the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates was published alongside the minimum wage legislation and can be found here: The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025 - Impact Assessment.

DBT estimated that 460,000-500,000 workers would benefit from the 2025 NLW and NMW increases in the hospitality sector. DBT also estimated that the total costs to businesses would be: £397m for micro-businesses, £499m for small businesses, and £354m for medium businesses.