The London Chamber of Commerce and Trade (LCCI) is asking the federal government to reverse the Nationwide Insurance coverage (NI) tax hike forward of the Autumn Funds.
Its polling outcomes confirmed that three-quarters of enterprise leaders could be extra prone to spend money on the UK following a NI rise reversal. An additional 74% mentioned the transfer would positively affect their enterprise. Over 500 UK enterprise homeowners have been polled within the LCCI and YouGov survey.
The LCCI has shared its figures with HM Treasury in its Funds submission, arguing the NI hike, which was launched in 2024 and applied mid-2025, has led to elevated prices for companies and customers, making development and entry to entry-level jobs harder.
Its requires the NI hike reversal varieties a part of a broader set of calls for by the LCCI to encourage enterprise development. These embrace; a enterprise charges reform and a higher-rate threshold that doesn’t unfairly goal excessive avenue companies in excessive property value areas, abolishing Sunday buying and selling legal guidelines to permit companies to open previous 5pm, restoring VAT-free purchasing, establishing a five-year ‘Itemizing Vacation’ exemption from Stamp Responsibility Reserve Tax on shares in firms newly listed in London and tax incentives for firms that relocate their primarily itemizing to London, plus extending the R&D tax reduction regime to help AI adoption.
Statistics already level to the unfavourable affect of the Nationwide Insurance coverage rise on the UK enterprise neighborhood. In keeping with knowledge from HM Income and Customs (HMRC), UK payrolled worker jobs dropped by 167,000 between October 2024 and April 2025, with UK companies going through some £25 billion in annual prices attributable to NI will increase.
Karim Fatehi OBE, Chief Govt of the London Chamber of Commerce and Trade, mentioned the LCCI outcomes show what the enterprise neighborhood had been saying for some time in regards to the NI hike. “The earlier administration’s Employer Nationwide Insurance coverage improve did actual harm to companies,” he said. “It knocked their confidence, making them reluctant to take a position, rent, and develop.”
He additionally mentioned a NI hike reversal would decrease enterprise hiring prices and welfare burdens by lowering the variety of folks not in schooling, employment or coaching (NEET). “That’s the reason we’re calling on the brand new Chancellor of the Exchequer to reverse this damaging tax improve and ship a Funds that backs the job creators, relatively than raiding them to stability the books.”
