National Insurance Holidays for Those Who Hire Service Leavers

  • Government guidelines published

  • Applicable from April 2021 - March 2022

On the 10th February 2021, the Government published guidance for employers looking to make use of the National Insurance holiday for employing veterans.

In 2020, the Chancellor announced National Insurance Holidays for those who employ service leavers as part of the Spring Budget. For the first year of employment, employers will be exempt from paying National Insurance contributions liability on a veteran’s civilian salary up to the Upper Secondary Threshold (UST) beginning April 2021.

From April 2021 to March 2022, employers will need to pay the associated secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions as normal and then claim it back retrospectively from April 2022 onwards.

Draft legislation for this measure has been published for a technical consultation. This is currently open and will close on 8 March 2021.

Laura Westrope