National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill: Motion to disagree to Lords Amendment 1

Commons MPs voted on 19 March 2025 to reject a package of Lords amendments to the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill. The amendments, grouped as Lords Amendment 1 and related amendments, would have exempted NHS providers, GPs, dentists, pharmacists, hospices, charities and other sectors from the bill's increase in employer National Insurance Contributions. The government asked the Commons to disagree with those exemptions, and the motion passed by 307 ayes to 182 noes (Division 132). The vote keeps the employer NIC rise applying universally from 6 April 2025, with no sector carve-outs. The bill raises the employer NIC rate from 13.8% to 15% and lowers the earnings threshold at which employer NICs become due from £9,100 to £5,000 per year, while doubling the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. Rejecting the Lords amendments means organisations such as GP practices, hospices and charities face the same increased payroll costs as any other employer, without statutory relief beyond the expanded Employment Allowance. Every Labour and Labour and Co-operative MP who voted backed the government. Every Conservative, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, Green and DUP MP who voted opposed it. Three independents voted with the government and four against. The vote sits in a longer parliamentary argument over the NIC rise, with opposition parties consistently arguing the measure breaks a pre-election promise and will cost jobs, and the government maintaining that universal application is essential to tax simplicity and the fiscal foundations for NHS investment.