National Insurance Contributions

There is a National Insurance Fund which provides subsistence level benefits to those in need. 
All individuals covered by the scheme are given a National Insurance number and the collection of National Insurance is administered by the National Insurance Contributions Office (NICO) which is part of HMRC.

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Contributions

The contributions payable in respect of the employment of an employed earner are either:

• Class 1 payable in respect of earnings by both the employer and employee
• Class 1a payable in respect of benefits in kind by the employer only
• Class 1b payable by the employer where he has entered into a PAYE settlement agreement with HMRC.

Liability for contributions start once an individual attains the age of 16. Liability for most contributions ceases when an individual employee reaches pensionable age.

A National Insurance number is issued to individuals shortly after their school leaving date. Where an individual starts work without a number, employers may use a temporary number which comprises the prefix TN followed by the employee’s date of birth and then a suffix letter of ‘M’ for males or ‘F’ for females. If the employee does not provide the proper number within eight weeks then employers should apply to HMRC to chase the number or for the issue of a new number.

The rules relating to National Insurance Contributions are many and complex and specialist advice should be sought if there are any individual queries that arise in relation to employee's or employer's payments.