The National Insurance rate was increased by 1.25% in April 2022 to fund health and social care. Following this, the NIC rate was to go back to the 2021-22 rates in April 2023 and be replaced by a new 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy.
However, in the first mini-budget from Kwasi Kwarteng, the government has:
From 6 November, the National Insurance contribution (NIC) rates will be cut by 1.25% for employees, employers and the self-employed. This cut will reverse the April 2022 declaration for the rest of the tax year. This cut will cover the following National insurance rates:
The Social Care Levy of 1.25% that was to be introduced from April 2023 in place of the 1.25% NIC rate increase has been cancelled.
HMRC has asked employers and software developers to include a short-term generic message on payslips for the tax year (2022 to 2023) to explain the NIC changes. However, you (employer) must remove the message from payslips from 6 November 2022 and action the new rates.
If you use the HMRC Basic PAYE tools, you don’t have to do anything because the software will automatically take account of these changes.
Spondoo has a specialist team of payroll accountants who can help you become compliant with changing payroll and autoenrollment legislation. Please call us at 02033 259 341 or email info@spondoo.co.uk to get support for all your bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll needs.