Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the amount of revenue that would have been raised in 2015-16 by levying compulsory national insurance contributions on people above state pension age.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs currently estimates that the national insurance exemption for people of pensionable age in 2015/16 costs around £950m in National Insurance Contributions receipts.

This figure is based on employee and self-employed National Insurance Contributions (Classes 1, 2 and 4).

The estimate is based on the latest available Survey of Personal Incomes (2012-13), which has been projected in line with Budget 2015 economic assumptions from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The estimate includes a behavioural adjustment to reflect changes in labour supply for this age group which are subject to particular uncertainty.