Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an estimate of the revenue which could be raised if the exemption from employee and employer's national insurance contributions for people above pensionable age was removed; and if so, what is that estimate.

The “Estimated costs of principal tax reliefs” publication, sets out an estimate of the cost of the exemption of those over State pension age from paying National Insurance. It is estimated that the cost of this exemption is approximately £1.1bn in 2018-19. The estimates do not allow for any behavioural changes as a result of the reliefs. In practice if a relief was withdrawn, taxpayers’ behaviour would be likely to alter so that the actual yield could be lower than that shown in the tables.

Employers are not currently exempt from paying employer NICs for their employees above the state pension age.