Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to introduce exemptions or adjustments to National Insurance Contributions for social enterprise nurseries.

The Government has taken a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability after the situation we inherited from the previous administration.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.

Early years providers play a crucial role in driving economic growth and that is why we have committed to delivering the expansion of government-funded childcare and opening 3,000 new school-based nurseries in this parliament. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced that total funding will rise to over £8 billion in 2025-26 to support providers. On top of this, the Department for Education confirmed an additional £75 million of funding in 2025-26 to support the sector deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, alongside a further £25 million to support childcare for disadvantaged children through the early years pupil premium.