06 October 2009, 00:55 AM
  • New start-ups could benefit from proposals for a National Insurance (NI) tax holiday, an announcement by George Osborne revealed today (Monday 5 October)

At a Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the Shadow Chancellor unveiled proposals for a tax break on employers’ NI contributions applicable to the first ten people recruited by a firm.

Despite being declared as a positive measure to ‘get Britain working’, the news was received with trepidation: the claims come ahead of a 0.5 per cent NI increase scheduled to take place in 2011.

“At present, employers’ NI contributions are set to rise just as small businesses are likely to be in a position to recruit staff in earnest. We will examine the savings that need to be made to pay for this initiative, but welcome it in principle. It is as a genuine stimulus to employment, small business growth and sustained economic recovery,” said Matt Goodman, policy representative for the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

Nearly 40 per cent of respondents in a quarterly Referendum survey of FPB members said they would actively seek to recruit new employees in the coming year.

The organisation has requested that the Government find more measures to support the UKs smallest, most vulnerable employers.

For more information visit www.fpb.org