National Insurance

We would like to remind our readers that the increases in National Insurance Contributions (NIC) of 1.25% – first announced last year – will take effect from April 2022. These increases will be ring-fenced to provide funding for the NHS, health and social care.

The increases will apply to:

• Class 1 contributions (paid by employees) above the primary and secondary thresholds. This is the NIC that is deducted from your earnings by your employer.
• Secondary Class 1 (paid by employers). Employer's NIC contributions are paid as part of the regular PAYE/NIC payments unless they are covered by the present £4,000 employment allowance.  
• Class 4 (paid by self-employed). These contributions are added to your annual Self-Assessment statement.

Employers should ensure that they are prepared for the increase as these changes will increase wage costs from April 2022.

All existing NICs reliefs to support employers will continue to apply. In addition to the employment allowance, this includes the following:

• employees under the age of 21
• apprentices under the age of 25
• qualifying Freeport employees
• armed forces veterans

From April 2023, these increases will be incorporated into a new Levy. The Levy will be administered by HMRC and collected by the current channels for NICs – Pay As You Earn and Income Tax Self-Assessment.

Please note, at the time this article was written there has been significant political pressure in parliament to cancel this increase. We will advise if this challenge results in the withdrawal of the 1.25% increase.

National Insurance credits can help qualifying applicants fill gaps in their National Insurance records. This can assist taxpayers to build the number of qualifying years of National Insurance contributions which can increase the amount of benefits a person is entitled to receive, for example, the State Pension.

This could happen if someone was:

• employed but had low earnings
• unemployed and were not claiming benefits
• self-employed but did not pay contributions because of small profits
• living or working outside the UK

National Insurance credits are available in certain situations where people are not working and therefore, not paying National Insurance credits. For example, credits may be available to those looking for work, who are ill, disabled or on sick pay, on maternity or paternity leave, caring for someone or on jury service.

Depending on the circumstances, National Insurance credits may be applied automatically or an application for credits may be required. There are two types of National Insurance credits available, either Class 1 or Class 3. Class 3 credits count towards the State Pension and certain bereavement benefits whilst Class 1 covers these as well as other benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Taxpayers may be able to pay voluntary contributions to fill any gaps if they are eligible.