National Insurance

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced sweeping changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) that will see a typical employee saving over £330 a year from 6 July 2022. The change comes as part of today's Spring Statement, with other key announcements, which we will round up below, including the basic rate of tax being cut by 1 percentage point from April 2024 and fuel duty rates being cut by 5p/litre.

Households across the country are set to face an income hit of £1,200 a year due to rising energy prices, tax increases and wage stagnation, according to a report by the think tank Resolution Foundation.

Certain national insurance contributions (NICs) paid by both employed and self-employed workers will rise by 1.25 percentage points from April 2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today announced. Dividend tax rates will also rise by the same amount from the next tax year. The move is in a bid to help fund health and social care costs.

National insurance thresholds will be raised and duties on fuel and alcohol frozen as part of the 2020 Budget unveiled by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. 

Around 200,000 parents risk losing £1,000s from their future state pension because they don't earn enough to pay national insurance contributions and their partner – who does earn enough – is claiming the family's child benefit. That's according to new data released this week – here's how to check if your family is affected, and transfer national insurance credits across if needed.

Stealth changes to national insurance thresholds, which were buried in yesterday's Budget, mean higher rate tax payers won't gain as much as first thought.

The Government has abandoned plans to scrap 'class 2' national insurance contributions – meaning around three million self-employed workers will lose out on a tax cut of over £150 per year.

The Treasury has postponed the scrapping of 'class 2' national insurance contributions for a year – until April 2019 – meaning many self-employed workers will have to pay almost £150 more than expected over the extra 12 months.

Up to 230,000 unpaid carers are putting their state pension in jeopardy by not claiming carer's credit – a benefit that plugs gaps in your national insurance record when you're not able to work because you're caring for someone.