Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) people and (b) businesses received national insurance contributions relief for employer contributions to registered pensions schemes in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.

The estimated cost to the Exchequer from employer pension contributions not being subject to employee and employer National Insurance is included in HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) National Statistics publication, and is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/registered-pension-schemes-cost-of-tax-relief.

The requested information is not reported to HMRC.

Information on private pension membership is published by the Office for National Statistics here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/pensionssavingsandinvestments.