Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the cost to local authorities of the 3.4 per cent increase in employer national insurance contributions that took effect from April 2016 for each financial year from 2016-17 to 2021-22.

The new State Pension was introduced in April 2016. As a result, the additional State Pension was abolished, and the Class 1 National Insurance contracted out rebate removed from the NICs system.

At Budget 2016, the Government assessed the cost to public sector employers of removing the contracted-out rebate as £2740, £2740, £2815, £2885, £2975 million from 2016-17 to 2020-21. This information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016. A more detailed breakdown is not available.

The impacts for each department were factored in to departmental settlements, including DCLG, at the Spending Review. DCLG’s settlement allocates money fairly amongst all councils to address service pressures and financial risks – including those under the greatest cost pressures and those with smaller tax bases. Over the Spending Review period councils in England will have available more than £200 billion to spend on local services.