Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of RPI-linked duty increases on consumer prices for spirits in pubs versus supermarkets.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.
At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to main its current real-terms value. The government does not expect this to have any significant impact on competition between the on and off trades.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of spirits duty on the viability of pub in coastal communities.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.
At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to main its current real-terms value. The government does not expect this to have any significant impact on competition between the on and off trades.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on disabled people in part-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on disabled people in full-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on women in part-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on women in full-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) online and (b) postal CA8421 certificate applications are currently overdue for processing and how long the backlog for applicants is for each.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to increased demand for National Insurance services ahead of the 5 April 2025 deadline for making voluntary contributions, there have been delays in processing A1 applications.
As of 2 December 2025:
HMRC is aware of the impact of these delays on customers and is taking steps to improve processing times. HMRC is training 700 more National Insurance advisers and expect to meet their SLAs on this work by the end of December 2025.
HMRC encourages customers to apply online for A1 certificates as these are quicker to deal with.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) online and (b) postal A1 form applications are currently overdue for processing and how long the backlog for applicants is for each.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to increased demand for National Insurance services ahead of the 5 April 2025 deadline for making voluntary contributions, there have been delays in processing A1 applications.
As of 2 December 2025:
HMRC is aware of the impact of these delays on customers and is taking steps to improve processing times. HMRC is training 700 more National Insurance advisers and expect to meet their SLAs on this work by the end of December 2025.
HMRC encourages customers to apply online for A1 certificates as these are quicker to deal with.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department is meeting its service standards for the processing and issuing of A1 forms.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to increased demand for National Insurance services ahead of the 5 April 2025 deadline for making voluntary contributions, there have been delays in processing A1 applications.
As of 2 December 2025:
HMRC is aware of the impact of these delays on customers and is taking steps to improve processing times. HMRC is training 700 more National Insurance advisers and expect to meet their SLAs on this work by the end of December 2025.
HMRC encourages customers to apply online for A1 certificates as these are quicker to deal with.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she expects HMRC to bring processing times for A1 forms back within service standards.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to increased demand for National Insurance services ahead of the 5 April 2025 deadline for making voluntary contributions, there have been delays in processing A1 applications.
As of 2 December 2025:
HMRC is aware of the impact of these delays on customers and is taking steps to improve processing times. HMRC is training 700 more National Insurance advisers and expect to meet their SLAs on this work by the end of December 2025.
HMRC encourages customers to apply online for A1 certificates as these are quicker to deal with.