Sir Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on the ability of (a) Citizens Advice services and (b) other lot community-centred charities to maintain their (i) staffing levels and (ii) contribution to society.  [17761]

[Due for Answer on 9 December]

ANSWER

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray): In order to repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the Government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance. HMRC recently published on 13 November a Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the impact of employer NICs changes. The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs. More broadly, within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities, CASCs and their donors in 2023 to 2024.