Autumn Budget 2024 - What does this mean for Domestic Staff Employers?

The Autumn Budget raises employer National Insurance to 15% and lowers the NI threshold to £5,000, increasing domestic staff employment costs. The National Living Wage climbs 6.7% to £12.21 per hour, adding about £1,400 per year for full‑time workers. Employers of personal or household staff still cannot claim the employment allowance, except for care or support workers.

The Government’s Autumn Budget has been announced and the changes being made will impact domestic staff employers across the UK.

(Please note, the following changes are from April 2025)

National Insurance to rise to 15% for Employers

The Chancellor has announced that the employers’ National Insurance contributions will rise from 13.8% to 15%. As a UK employer, this will mean that your total cost of employing your domestic staff will increase.

In addition to this, the threshold at which UK employers will start paying National Insurance on their employee’s earnings will be lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.

Increase of National Living Wage

The National Living Wage will rise by 6.7% in April, from £11.44 an hour to £12.21. This is an increase of £1,400 a year for a full-time employee on the National Living Wage and is expected to benefit over 3 million employees across the UK.

Employment Allowance

Unfortunately, there is no mention in the Autumn Budget to allow employers of personal, household, or domestic staff to claim employment allowance, unless your employee is a care or support worker.