Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of businesses who have class 1 National Insurance contributions of £45,000 or less in each of the past 10 tax years.

Data for statutory payments for the financial year 2024-25 has not yet been fully analysed as the financial year has only recently ended. Data for financial years 2019-20 until 2023-24 is provided below. HMRC do not have data readily available for Statutory payments before 2019-20 and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The tables below show the number of PAYE schemes claiming each statutory payment by tax year. Note that the scheme count for reclaims does not reflect the total number of reclaims, as schemes may submit multiple claims within a single tax year.

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) PAYE scheme counts have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) The table shows the count of PAYE schemes with reclaims, using schemes as a proxy for business count.

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) PAYE scheme counts have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) The table shows the count of PAYE schemes with reclaims, using schemes as a proxy for business count.

Notes:

1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.

2) PAYE scheme counts have been rounded to nearest 100.

3) The table shows the count of PAYE schemes with reclaims, using schemes as a proxy for business count.

The data below summarises the total number of employers with Employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) liabilities of £45,000 or less for the financial years 2022–23 to 2024–25. HMRC does not hold readily available data on the number of employers by the value of their total Employer NIC liabilities for years prior to 2022–23, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Notes:

1) Figures rounded to nearest thousand.

2) Figures include employers whose Employer NIC liabilities = £0

3) Figures exclude employers whose Employer NIC liabilities are unknown.

4) Data is RTI data matched to Business Lookup Table data.

The Small Employer’s Relief is a flat rate for all qualifying employers whose Employer National Insurance Contributions (Employer NICs) were £45,000 or under in the previous tax year.

The rate is split into two parts; 100% of the payment of Statutory Pay, plus an additional amount to cover the Employer NIC liabilities arising from the Statutory Pay.

It is calculated based on the rules for Statutory Maternity Pay, which makes up the majority of the claims received. Statutory Maternity Pay level is equal to 90% of average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks, and the lower of £187.18 and 90% of average weekly earnings for the subsequent 33 weeks. [N.B. Taken from here: https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay]

Prior to April 2025, the Small Employer’s Relief rate was 103%. From April 2025, Employer NICs is charged at a rate of 15% on earnings salary over £96 a week (equivalent to £5,000 a year). The 8.5% therefore reflects the value of Employer NICs at the current rate as a percentage of Statutory Maternity Pay over the 39 weeks the employee is eligible for.