National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 4

What happened: The House of Commons voted on 19 March 2025 to disagree with Lords Amendment 4 to the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill, passing the motion by 313 votes to 190. The amendment, which had been passed by the House of Lords, would have maintained existing employer National Insurance contribution rates and thresholds for NHS-commissioned services including GPs, dentists, pharmacists, social care providers and hospices. By voting to reject it, the Commons overturned that protection and kept the government's original policy intact.

Why it matters: The Bill raises the rate of employer secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions and lowers the threshold at which employers begin paying them. Lords Amendment 4 was one of a group of amendments seeking to carve out NHS-commissioned and social care providers from those increases. The government's rejection means that independent contractors providing primary care, such as GP surgeries, community pharmacies, dental practices and hospices, will face the higher employer National Insurance bills without a direct government exemption. The government has said it will provide additional funding to these sectors through wider spending settlements rather than through a direct exemption, but it has confirmed that direct employer National Insurance support will go only to central government departments, local government and public corporations, not to independent contractors.

The politics: The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 311 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the government. Every Conservative, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, Green and DUP member who voted opposed the government, totalling 190 Noes. The debate was particularly sharp on the treatment of hospices and primary care providers, with opposition members from across the spectrum arguing the government was giving one-off capital funding with one hand while imposing a recurring payroll cost with the other. The government invoked Commons financial privilege (meaning the Lords cannot insist on amendments that impose a charge on public funds not authorised by the Commons) against Amendment 20, and moved to disagree with all 20 remaining Lords amendments as a block, framing the Lords changes as a threat to the fiscal consolidation at the heart of the October 2024 Budget.