Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who will financially benefit from the National Insurance reduction announced in the Spring Budget 2024 and (b) average (i) financial gain from that reduction and (ii) cumulative financial gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated number of people who financially benefited from the National insurance reduction in the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget and the associated financial gain for an average employee on £35,404 can be seen in Table 1 below:
Table 1: gain for an average employee on £35,404 from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts | Autumn Statement only | Spring Budget only | Cumulative Spring Budget and Autumn Statement |
Number of people who financially benefitted from the NICs reduction, 1000s | 29,300 | 29,500 | 29,500 |
Gain for average employee with mean employee salary of £35,404 | £457 | £457 | £913 |
The estimated average financial gain among those benefitting from both the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction, by region, can be seen in the Table 2 below:
Table 2: average financial gain and cumulative gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts by region | Number of gainers, 1000s | Average gain, Spring Budget only | Average cumulative gain, Autumn Statement and Spring Budget |
North East | 1,060 | £316 | £632 |
North West and Merseyside | 3,140 | £321 | £644 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 2,330 | £313 | £628 |
East Midlands | 2,110 | £322 | £645 |
West Midlands | 2,500 | £322 | £645 |
East of England | 2,830 | £360 | £720 |
London | 4,350 | £381 | £763 |
South East | 4,120 | £369 | £738 |
South West | 2,420 | £327 | £655 |
Northern Ireland | 807 | £308 | £618 |
Scotland | 2,430 | £338 | £677 |
Wales | 1,240 | £320 | £642 |
Total | 29,500 | £341 | £683 |
These are the modelled average impacts rather than the impacts for an average full time employee (on a given salary), for example the £900 gain previously published for the cumulative impacts.
The Autumn Statement 2023 National insurance reduction estimates are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities November 2023 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction estimates and cumulative estimates of both policies are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who financially benefited from the National Insurance reduction announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and (b) average financial gain from that reduction.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated number of people who financially benefited from the National insurance reduction in the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget and the associated financial gain for an average employee on £35,404 can be seen in Table 1 below:
Table 1: gain for an average employee on £35,404 from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts | Autumn Statement only | Spring Budget only | Cumulative Spring Budget and Autumn Statement |
Number of people who financially benefitted from the NICs reduction, 1000s | 29,300 | 29,500 | 29,500 |
Gain for average employee with mean employee salary of £35,404 | £457 | £457 | £913 |
The estimated average financial gain among those benefitting from both the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction, by region, can be seen in the Table 2 below:
Table 2: average financial gain and cumulative gain from reductions to National Insurance announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 and Spring Budget 2024, by region
2024 to 2025 tax year impacts by region | Number of gainers, 1000s | Average gain, Spring Budget only | Average cumulative gain, Autumn Statement and Spring Budget |
North East | 1,060 | £316 | £632 |
North West and Merseyside | 3,140 | £321 | £644 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 2,330 | £313 | £628 |
East Midlands | 2,110 | £322 | £645 |
West Midlands | 2,500 | £322 | £645 |
East of England | 2,830 | £360 | £720 |
London | 4,350 | £381 | £763 |
South East | 4,120 | £369 | £738 |
South West | 2,420 | £327 | £655 |
Northern Ireland | 807 | £308 | £618 |
Scotland | 2,430 | £338 | £677 |
Wales | 1,240 | £320 | £642 |
Total | 29,500 | £341 | £683 |
These are the modelled average impacts rather than the impacts for an average full time employee (on a given salary), for example the £900 gain previously published for the cumulative impacts.
The Autumn Statement 2023 National insurance reduction estimates are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities November 2023 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The Spring Budget 2024 National insurance reduction estimates and cumulative estimates of both policies are based upon the 2019 to 2020 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected in line with economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibilities March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to simplify the tax system.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor has been clear that tax simplification is a key priority. He has set a clear mandate for officials in HMT and HMRC to focus on simplification during tax policy making and implementation.
Recent fiscal events have included several simplification measures. At Autumn Statement 2023 the government abolished the obligation to pay class 2 self-employed national insurance contributions, simplified the capital allowances system for large businesses by making full expensing permanent, and made it easier for self-employed to use a simplified method for calculating small business profits known as the cash basis.
The Government announced additional simplifications in a Written Statement on 16th January.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 25 April (HL3770), how they intend to assess entitlement for contributory working age benefits and pensions, should they abolish national insurance contributions in line with their stated ambition.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Cutting NICs rates does not affect anyone’s entitlement to the State Pension or contributory benefits.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to allow beneficiaries to claim two years of a deceased person's state pension contributions in the event that they die before state pension age.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst recognising the emotive nature of this issue and having sympathy for people in this position, the Government does not have plans to make any changes in this area,
Where a spouse, civil partner or, where there is a dependent child, cohabiting partner, passes away, Bereavement Support Payment is available to help working age people through the difficult period following a bereavement. Bereavement Support Payment is a contributory benefit based on the National Insurance contributions of the deceased person.
Pension Credit provides a safety-net for those over the State Pension age on low-incomes.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 12 February (HL Deb col 10) that HMRC expects processing times for A1 forms to return to normal by April, what assessment they have made of progress so far, and what steps they are taking to improve processing times.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC has taken steps to address the backlog of A1 applications, have achieved their recovery strategy ahead of time and they are now achieving service levels. Since September 2023 the processing times for online applications have decreased to 6 days from 15 weeks previously, and for post applications, it is now also 6 days, down from 33 weeks. The Standard Level of Service Agreement targets for both are 15 days and 40 days respectively. As of 3rd May, HMRC has reduced the number of cases on hand to approximately 2500.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 12 February (HL Deb col 10) that HMRC expected processing times for A1 forms to return to normal by April, what are the "normal" target processing times.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC processing timescales for A1 forms are to clear 75% of online applications within 15 working-days, for postal applications it is to clear 75% within 40 working-days.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made on the levels of household disposable income as a result of the potential impact of the OBR's forecasts on household income.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since 2022, the government has demonstrated its commitment to households by providing one of the largest support packages in Europe. Support for households with the cost-of-living, from 2022-23 to 2023-24, totalled £96 billion – an average of £3400 per UK household.
Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) per capita has outperformed OBR expectations. RHDI per capita grew by 1.3% in 2023, rather than falling by 3.2% as predicted in the OBR’s March 2023 forecast. This means that, in 2023, RHDI per capita was over £1,200 higher than the OBR expected in their March 2023 forecast, when using 2019 prices.
In the 2024 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a further 2 pence cut to the main rates of National Insurance Contributions. This adds to a boost of similar size from the National Insurance Contributions cut announced in the Autumn Statement 2023.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of when the online system for (a) checking the completeness of National Insurance records and (b) paying top ups will be launched.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
After a period of internal testing, we launched the service in private beta on 22nd April 24 to a small number of users. Over the period 22nd April 24 until the 29th April 24 we have gradually increased number of users in private beta. We made the service available to everyone in a public beta on 29th April 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest estimate of the amount of income tax lost to fraud each year.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not publish a stand-alone estimate of the Income tax gap arising from fraud.
However, ‘Measuring tax gaps 2023 edition’, published in June 2023, shows a reduction in the Income Tax, National Insurance contributions and Capital Gains Tax gap as a percentage of the theoretical tax liability from 4.5% in 2005-2006 to 3.0% in 2021-2022. The publication also provides illustrative estimates for fraud that are included in the criminal attacks and evasion components, plus a proportion of hidden economy and non-payment.