Members of the House of Lords conducted further examination of the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on Tuesday 25 February.
Lords voted, 305 votes to 175, in favour of an amendment from Baroness Barker, which could see care providers, GPs, dentists and pharmacists exempt from the change in threshold.
Baroness Barker said: “The problem we are dealing with is that, in the health and social care sector, the sudden imposition of these changes to national insurance, along with the increases in the minimum wage, are going to threaten the existence of large numbers of providers and have a profound impact on budgets.
“The Government has come forward with some of their public sector exemptions because they realise the effect that this is likely to have. But those exemptions will not apply across the board. In particular, they will not apply to the organisations set out in these amendments, such as dentists, pharmacists, providers of care services and hospices, all of which are central to the Government’s other stated policy objective of improving health and of improving the health service and making it a community-based and more preventive service.”
The third reading of the Bill will occur on Tuesday, March 4. Click here to learn more.
