James MacCleary slams jobs tax with employees in the Lewes constituency facing financial hit of nearly £2,810

The rise in employers’ National Insurance has come into effect with employees in Polegate, Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven, Willingdon, Stone Cross and surrounding villages facing an estimated hit of almost £2810 in total by the end of the decade, as the jobs tax gets passed down to them as lower real wages, Liberal Democrat research has found.

At the Spring Statement, the OBR reported that 76% of the rise in employers' national insurance would be passed down to workers through lower real wages.

The research by the Liberal Democrats has found that this means on average an employee in the Lewes constituency would be worse off by roughly £2810 by the end of the decade, with workers experiencing a hit of nearly £450 in the next year on average.

James MacCleary raised this issue in the Chamber, warning that GP practices, childcare providers, community organisations, and local businesses are being pushed to breaking point by rising National Insurance costs, and urging the Government to rethink these changes before vital services and jobs are put at risk: https://www.facebook.com/MPJamesmaccleary/videos/558363137019632

Local Liberal Democrat MP, James MacCleary, says that high streets could be “on the brink” following the tax hike. He said the Chancellor “must immediately scrap her jobs tax” and is calling on the Chancellor to overhaul the “broken” business rates system to unleash growth in the local area.

James said: “The Chancellor’s jobs tax is setting already stretched household finances up for another battering right in the middle of a cost of living crisis. After years of Conservative economic vandalism, this Labour government is now risking a spate of boarded up shop fronts on our much loved high streets, leaving local businesses on the brink of closure.

"The Government cannot go on pretending that their jobs tax won’t hit people’s pockets. Our town centres and hard-working business owners will bear the brunt of this crushing decision.

“The Chancellor must immediately scrap her jobs tax and overhaul the broken business rates system. This is the only way to unleash the massive growth potential of our high streets and protect local household finances.”

The research by the Liberal Democrats can be found here.

In its March 2025 Economic & Fiscal Outlook report, the OBR said: “we assumed that firms would pass on most, but not all, of the higher cost resulting from the increase to employer NICs to their employees via lower real wages…In 2025-26, …we assumed firms pass on 60 per cent of the higher costs to workers and consumers... Thereafter, we assumed, based on demand and supply elasticities for labour, that 76 per cent of the total cost is passed through to employees via lower real wages.” [OBR, March 2025 EFO, paragraph 3.52].

The research used the latest available ONS payroll data to allocate 76% of the National Insurance increase to each Local Authority, based on its share of the UK’s aggregate pay. The number of payrolled employees in each Local Authority was used to estimate the average tax hit in the area. [ONS: Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, seasonally adjusted].