Just 10,000 firms sign up for national insurance holiday scheme

5 Jan 12

Take up of the Government's national insurance holiday scheme is much lower than expected, Treasury statistics have revealed.

The scheme, which was revealed in the June 2010 Budget, was expected to benefit 400,000 over a three year period, but the figures reveal that between September 2010, and November 2011, just 10,000 firms signed up.

The scheme exempts qualifying new businesses in eligible regions from up to £5,000 of employer national insurance contributions for each of the first ten employees hired in the first 12 months.

The scheme was criticised at launch due to the regional constrictions, and now Labour's shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, Owen Smith MP claims the scheme has been a 'total flop'.

"The one flagship policy that could have made a difference has been a total flop, supporting just one in forty businesses who were promised help. And shockingly, the government is set to spend twice as much on admin costs than it has so far paid out in support to businesses," he said.

The Treasury figures show that while £6 million was paid out to the 10,000 small firms, administration costs are estimated to be double that at around £12 million.

Easy Accountancy

Easy Accountancy is the UK’s only national specialist accountancy firm for freelancers, sole traders and small businesses

If you’ve just started out as a freelancer or run a small business, you’ll definitely need a small accountant and there are plenty of options out there! However, most accountants will charge you every time you get in touch with them; for every phone call, email or meeting.

We don’t want our clients to be scared to contact us and potentially lose out on valuable tax saving advice. It's even more important when you first start out as you really need to set your business up in the best way possible. As a start up you’ll probably have loads of questions and will really appreciate the fact you can call your accountant as many times as you like without the fear of racking up large bills.

Our low cost, all-inclusive fixed-fee accountancy service includes unlimited access to your own accountant throughout the year, so you never need to worry about picking up the phone and then receiving a bill afterwards for the privilege, and covers all your business and personal tax affairs needs. All clients additionally receive:

Help to run your business in the most tax efficient way possible
Help so you can understand the taxes you need to pay
Advice on the best ways to manage your business
Updates and reminders so you'll never miss a deadline
Help to ensure you maximise your tax allowances
Provide proactive tax advice throughout the year

We’ve saved our clients up to half on their accountancy bills – if you’d like a quote, click on the quote me button to the right of this page. Alternatively, call us on 0500 234111 / 01442 275767 or email jessica@easyaccountancy.co.uk

We also have a money-back service guarantee - all of your telephone calls and emails will be answered on the same day, or we will refund your monthly fee (another first within the accountancy world).

To appoint us as your accountants, please fill in our Client Agreement Form online.

If you are a contractor working through a limited company then visit SJD Accountancy (our sister company) who specialise in providing tax advice and accountancy services for Limited Company contractors. You can also keep up to date by following the SJD Accountancy Twitter

You may also find the following pages helpful: