National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 21B

Parliament voted on 25 March 2025 to reject Lords Amendment 21B to the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill, by 314 votes to 196. The motion, brought by the government, instructed the Commons to disagree with the Lords amendment, which had sought to modify the employer National Insurance contribution changes introduced by the Bill. This was one of several Lords amendments considered that day, alongside 1B, 5B and 8B, all of which the government also moved to reject.

The vote matters because it clears the way for the government's employer National Insurance reforms to proceed without the modifications the House of Lords had introduced. The Bill raises the rate of secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions (paid by employers) from 13.8 percent to 15 percent, and simultaneously reduces the earnings threshold at which employers begin paying from £9,100 to £5,000. The Lords amendments sought to exempt certain health and care providers, including GP practices, NHS-commissioned dentists and pharmacists, care homes, hospices and small businesses, from these changes. By rejecting Amendment 21B, the Commons upheld the government's position that no such statutory exemption should apply to those providers, meaning they face the full impact of both the rate rise and the lower threshold.

The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 312 Labour and Labour and Co-operative Party members who voted supported the government. Every Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Plaid Cymru, Green and Reform UK member who voted backed the Lords amendment. There were no Labour rebels. The division sits within a broader pattern of the government using its Commons majority to override Lords amendments in the final stages of the Bill, with a parallel vote the same day on Amendment 1B producing a similar result of 312 to 190.