Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was paid in parental leave by recipient's income decile for each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Data for the financial year 2024/25 has not yet been fully analysed as the financial year has only recently ended. Data for financial years 2020/21 until 2023/24 is provided below.
The table below shows the number of PAYE schemes who claimed compensation for any of the four Statutory Parental Payments, qualifying them for Small Employers’ Relief.
Date | Statutory Maternity Pay Scheme Count | Statutory Paternity Pay Scheme Count | Shared Parental Pay Scheme Count | Statutory Adoption Pay Scheme Count | Total |
20/21 | 62,800 | 10,200 | 500 | 300 | 73,800 |
21/22 | 63,000 | 14,600 | 600 | 300 | 78,500 |
22/23 | 61,000 | 15,700 | 600 | 400 | 77,700 |
23/24 | 58,600 | 15,000 | 600 | 400 | 74,600 |
Notes:
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) PAYE scheme counts have been rounded to nearest 100.
3) The table shows the count of PAYE schemes who claimed Small Employers’ Relief, with schemes used as a proxy for business count.
The table below shows how much compensation was paid to PAYE schemes claiming Small Employers’ Relief but not the entire value of parental payment claims.
Date | Statutory | Statutory | Shared | Statutory | Total (£000’s) |
20/21 | 10,500 | 200 | 100 | 100 | 10,900 |
21/22 | 12,400 | 300 | 200 | 100 | 13,000 |
22/23 | 13,400 | 1,400 | 200 | 400 | 15,400 |
23/24 | 17,400 | 400 | 200 | 200 | 18,200 |
Notes:
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) Claims values have been rounded to nearest £100,000.
The table below shows the proportion of claims for Small Employers’ Relief compensation against total parental pay reclaims.
Date | Total Compensation Count | Total Recovery Count | Proportion |
19/20 | 77,000 | 202,000 | 38% |
20/21 | 74,000 | 185,000 | 40% |
21/22 | 79,000 | 196,000 | 40% |
22/23 | 78,000 | 196,000 | 40% |
23/24 | 75,000 | 196,000 | 38% |
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) Total number of claims rounded to nearest 1000.
3) The proportion calculation assumes all schemes claiming compensation are also counted within number of claims for recoveries.
Further breakdowns of information by income decile or of employees by region are not currently available from published statistics, and collating and verifying the relevant data solely for the purpose of answering this question would incur disproportionate cost.
Some related information may be found in this call for evidence: Parental leave and pay review: call for evidence - GOV.UK, including the number of claimants by income decile and region up to 2023/24.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employers claimed parental leave pay through Small Employers Relief in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Data for the financial year 2024/25 has not yet been fully analysed as the financial year has only recently ended. Data for financial years 2020/21 until 2023/24 is provided below.
The table below shows the number of PAYE schemes who claimed compensation for any of the four Statutory Parental Payments, qualifying them for Small Employers’ Relief.
Date | Statutory Maternity Pay Scheme Count | Statutory Paternity Pay Scheme Count | Shared Parental Pay Scheme Count | Statutory Adoption Pay Scheme Count | Total |
20/21 | 62,800 | 10,200 | 500 | 300 | 73,800 |
21/22 | 63,000 | 14,600 | 600 | 300 | 78,500 |
22/23 | 61,000 | 15,700 | 600 | 400 | 77,700 |
23/24 | 58,600 | 15,000 | 600 | 400 | 74,600 |
Notes:
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) PAYE scheme counts have been rounded to nearest 100.
3) The table shows the count of PAYE schemes who claimed Small Employers’ Relief, with schemes used as a proxy for business count.
The table below shows how much compensation was paid to PAYE schemes claiming Small Employers’ Relief but not the entire value of parental payment claims.
Date | Statutory | Statutory | Shared | Statutory | Total (£000’s) |
20/21 | 10,500 | 200 | 100 | 100 | 10,900 |
21/22 | 12,400 | 300 | 200 | 100 | 13,000 |
22/23 | 13,400 | 1,400 | 200 | 400 | 15,400 |
23/24 | 17,400 | 400 | 200 | 200 | 18,200 |
Notes:
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) Claims values have been rounded to nearest £100,000.
The table below shows the proportion of claims for Small Employers’ Relief compensation against total parental pay reclaims.
Date | Total Compensation Count | Total Recovery Count | Proportion |
19/20 | 77,000 | 202,000 | 38% |
20/21 | 74,000 | 185,000 | 40% |
21/22 | 79,000 | 196,000 | 40% |
22/23 | 78,000 | 196,000 | 40% |
23/24 | 75,000 | 196,000 | 38% |
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) Total number of claims rounded to nearest 1000.
3) The proportion calculation assumes all schemes claiming compensation are also counted within number of claims for recoveries.
Further breakdowns of information by income decile or of employees by region are not currently available from published statistics, and collating and verifying the relevant data solely for the purpose of answering this question would incur disproportionate cost.
Some related information may be found in this call for evidence: Parental leave and pay review: call for evidence - GOV.UK, including the number of claimants by income decile and region up to 2023/24.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many households stopped receiving child benefit following the introduction of (a) the two child benefit cap and (b) means testing in (i) Telford constituency, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Child Benefit is a non-means tested benefit payable to families as a contribution towards the cost of raising children. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge for families in receipt of Child Benefit payments on higher individual incomes, of £60,000 or more. These families can either get the Child Benefit payments and pay the tax charge or opt out of receiving the payments, and not have to pay the HICBC.
The number of families opting out of Child Benefit payments by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency, region and country can be found in table 12 in the latest annual Child Benefit statistics release: Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK.
The number of those paying the tax charge by region and country can be found in table 17 of the same publication. These figures relate to 2022 to 2023 tax year when the HICBC threshold was £50,000.
The policy to provide support for a maximum of two children in Universal Credit does not apply to Child Benefit.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with representatives of the UK plastics industry on the enforcement of the Plastic Packaging Tax on imports.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this.
In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m.
HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Plastic Packaging Tax on imports.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this.
In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m.
HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) she and (b) officials in her Department have met with (i) the Environment Agency and (ii) His Majesty's Revenue and Customs to discuss the enforcement of the Plastic Packaging Tax on imports.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this.
In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m.
HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money is held in dormant bank accounts, broken down by (a) bank and (b) region.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMT does not hold information on the level of dormant assets across UK bank accounts as this would be client information held by the banks themselves.
However, the Government does have information on the level of funds pertaining to the UK’s official Dormant Assets Scheme. The Dormant Assets scheme – legislated for in 2008, and updated in 2022 – creates a voluntary mechanism for taking dormant funds transferred from the financial sector to spend on charitable causes. The scheme was designed as a public/private partnership. The transferred funds come largely from the UK’s banking and building society sectors and are administered by a body called Reclaim Fund Limited (RFL).
Total transfers into the scheme since inception, from across the financial services sector, was £1.98bn as of March 2024. Of this total, £241m was transferred to the scheme in the financial year 2023/2024 alone, of which £219m came from the banking and building societies sectors, demonstrating the large amount of Dormant Assets held by these institutions.
There are currently 36 banks and building societies participating in the Dormant Assets Scheme, including many large banks.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to (a) enforce the Plastic Packaging Tax and (b) prevent illegal imports.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To ensure a level playing field, importers and UK manufacturers must provide the same level of evidence to claim relief from the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT). The government continues to assess the prevalence of PPT non-compliance on imported plastic packaging and are considering options to further safeguard against this.
In the meantime, HMRC continues to develop their data and risk driven approach to compliance as the tax matures and more data comes available to profile, identify and target error and non-compliance. HMRC has a range of sanctions to promote compliance and deter non-compliance, such as penalties of up to 100% of the tax due and compulsory registration. In 2023/24 HMRC completed inquiries into 690 PPT cases with a tax yield of almost £18m.
HMRC lead tax compliance and work in policy partnership with HM Treasury officials. HMRC are committed to working closely with Defra and the Environment Agencies to share data and insight, alongside continued engagement with the sector on a range of PPT issues.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) her Department and (b) HMRC was in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMT Response
HM Treasury offers two-weeks’ paternity leave with pay for staff who meet the qualifying conditions. Staff can choose to take the two weeks together or in separate blocks of one week each.
The information below covers the average length of paternity leave in calendar days for the past three financial years in HM Treasury:
Financial years: | Average length of paternity leave: |
1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022 | 12.78 |
1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 | 13.16 |
1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024 | 12.35 |
HMRC Response
Financial year April-23 to March-24: The average number of calendar days taken for paternity leave per person is 27.79 days.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a levy on foreign ownership of residential properties.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Non-UK residents purchasing residential property in England or Northern Ireland currently pay a 2 percentage point Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) surcharge on top of the standard residential SDLT rates.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review and would have to consider the merits of any new taxes in the round as part of a fiscal event. The Chancellor will set out her Budget on the 30th October.