UKHospitality asks the Budget to lift the NI threshold to protect 300,000 youth job starts

UKHospitality has called on the government to reverse the lower employer National Insurance threshold in the coming Autumn Budget, The Caterer reports.

The ask The threshold at which employers start paying NI fell from £9,100 a year to £5,000. UKHospitality wants it raised progressively to £10,000 by the end of this Parliament for hospitality employers.

The argument - Hospitality hires around 300,000 16- to 24-year-olds a year, based on the trade body's analysis of ONS figures - It says a third of all first jobs for under-25s are in the sector - It puts the extra costs on the sector over the past two years at more than £5bn, linked to around 100,000 lost jobs - The lower threshold bites hardest on part-time and younger staff, where hospitality employs most heavily

Chief executive Allen Simpson called the first Budget under the new prime minister "a moment for change" and asked the government to "cut the cost of employment" so the sector can hire again.

What it means for operators: the NI threshold is now the trade's headline Budget ask on labour. Groups with a large part-time workforce should model what a £10,000 threshold would be worth across the estate and put that number in front of their MP, alongside the jobs it would protect locally.