Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of the phasing out of Government covid-19 support on the number of the self-employed; and whether he has commissioned research on the impact of that matter on the employment rate.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) provided unprecedented support to self-employed people who met the eligibility criteria. As of 4 November 2021, the scheme had supported 2.9 million people through 10.4 million grants worth £28.1 billion.
As set out in the Plan for Jobs Progress Update, published on 13 September 2021, the economy is now in a stronger position than it was last autumn, and the labour market is in a stronger position too. As the economy has reopened the jobs market has recovered, vacancies are at record highs, and the success of the Government’s vaccine programme has allowed us to lift almost all restrictions.
That is why it is right that the Government has wound down its temporary pandemic support, while continuing to support businesses to invest in the recovery and supporting people into new jobs. At the start of this crisis, unemployment was expected to reach 12 per cent or more. It is now expected to peak at less than half of that level, at 5.2 per cent. That means more than two million fewer people are expected to be out of work than previously feared. As we move to a new phase of the Plan for Jobs, the Government will continue to maximise employment across the country, create high quality, productive jobs, and deliver the skills that people, businesses and the economy need to thrive as we build back better.
HMRC and HM Treasury will also carry out an evaluation of the SEISS to help inform future policymaking and delivery. The self-employment data necessary to carry out a full SEISS evaluation will not be available until 2023, upon HMRC’s receipt of Self-Assessment returns.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising the Employment Allowance in order to support small employers to offer (a) more roles and (b) higher wages.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has no current plans to increase the Employment Allowance (EA). The EA has already been significantly increased since its introduction in 2014. In April 2020, the Government increased the EA from £3,000 to £4,000 and focused the relief on helping smaller businesses take on extra staff, fulfil their potential, and boost employment. This increase benefitted around 510,000 businesses, of which 65,000 businesses were estimated to be taken out of paying National Insurance contribution bills entirely.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made of the financial impact of the rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions on (a) the employment rate and (b) wages, before that decision was taken.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
I refer the Hon Member to the answer that was given on 19 November 2021 to PQ UIN 75954.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what research he has commissioned within his Department on the impact of the rise in Employer National Contributions on (a) the employment rate and (b) wages.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
I refer the Hon Member to the answer that was given to PQ UIN 76718.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of how many full time equivalent employees it will be possible to employ on (a) the National Living Wage and (b) the average national wage, before becoming liable to Employer National Insurance Contributions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
An employer which is eligible to claim the Employment Allowance (EA) will be able to hire up to 3 employees on the National Living Wage who work 35 hours a week, for an entire year, before they have an employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) bill in 2022-23: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
An employer which is eligible to claim the EA will be able to hire up to 1.5 employees on the median national wage in 2021 before they have an employer NICs bill in 2022-23: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2021
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of business exits, (b) number of insolvencies and (c) extent of consolidation within the business population as Government covid-19 support is phased out; and what assessment he has made of the impact of each of those categories on the employment rate.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Support schemes such as the CJRS and government-backed loans kept insolvencies and business exits below normal levels throughout much of the pandemic.
To protect businesses from aggressive creditor action during Covid enforced restrictions there was a temporary ban on Winding Up Petitions (WUP) for Covid-19-related debt. As the economy returns to normal trading conditions, it is right that creditor powers are restored.
Insolvencies returned to pre-covid levels in September 2021, coinciding with the end of the WUP ban. It is too early to assess the full impact of support ending on business consolidation as some support schemes, such as the rent moratorium, are still in place.
Vacancy levels are higher than normal. As a result, we expect that the employment rate should remain relatively stable in the face of business exits and consolidation in 2022-23.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of payroll employee jobs that will be impacted by the rise in (a) employee and (b) employer National Insurance Contributions.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has not made an estimate of the proportion of payroll employee jobs affected by the rise in National Insurance contributions from April 2022 as this information is not available.
Individual employees are not directly impacted by the employer National Insurance rise which is paid by employers.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses in the gaming, gambling and leisure industries that applied to reclaim VAT, following the Upper Tribunals decision in favour of Rank and Done Bros in 2020, have yet to receive a refund on the tax.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
144 businesses have received a refund. In addition, 157 claims have been rejected as invalid, and 474 are in the process of validation.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value of covid-19 related grants and payments is from the public purse to duty holders in the UK sector of the offshore oil and gas industry, broken down by support for (a) revenue streams, (b) capital investment and (c) employment costs.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government does not publish the level of data requested in order to prevent the release of potentially disclosive information.
The Government is closely monitoring the impacts of the pandemic and period of low oil prices on the upstream oil and gas industry and continues to engage closely with a range of stakeholders from the sector.
Throughout this crisis, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods, and support businesses and public services across the UK. The Government has spent over £280 billion to do so this year.
Covid-19 related grants and payments available to businesses and individuals across the country include the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Further grants to help businesses include the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) to local authorities in England.