Is There National Insurance Holiday for Veterans?

In 2020 the government announced the introduction of a National Insurance holiday for employers that hire former members of the UK regular armed forces. The holiday will exempt employers from any National Insurance contributions liability on a veteran’s salary up to the Upper Secondary Threshold (UST) in their first year of civilian employment.

This relief is available from April 2021. Employers can claim this relief for 12 months starting from the first day of the veterans first civilian employment after leaving Her Majesty’s armed forces. Subsequent employers can claim this relief during this 12-month period.

A full digital service will be available to employers from April 2022. However, transitional arrangements will be in place in the 2021 to 2022 tax year which will effectively enable employers of veterans to record details of veterans’ employments to then claim the holiday relief from April 2022.