Christian Hickmott, founder of Integro Accounting, has calculated that Andy Burnham’s mooted U-turn of Labour’s National Insurance Contributions (NICs) changes could return more than £650 a year to the typical one-person limited company.
Burnham reversing the “double-hit” of employer NICs being hiked to 15% and the secondary threshold being cut to £5,000 would put £656.64 “back into the pocket” of a one-person company director on a £12,570 salary, says Hickmott, a 16-year veteran of contractor taxation.
At a glance
- Integro Accounting founder Christian Hickmott tots up that Andy Burnham’s potential reversal of Labour’s National Insurance Contributions (NICs) changes could return more than £650 a year to the typical one-person limited company
- Labour’s double-hit on employer NICs — the rate hiked to 15% and the secondary threshold cut to £5,000 — took effect on April 6th 2025
- At the time of writing, Andy Burnham, the MP for Makerfield, has committed to neither a review nor a reversal of the two in-force changes to employer NICs
- If only the employer NICs rate reverted to 13.8%, leaving the £5,000 threshold in place, the annual saving to each one-person company would be a mere £90, according to tax and payroll expert Carolyn Walsh, a former tax inspector
- Reverting employer NIC to 13.8% would help ease an odd quirk for HMRC, where one-person companies add an employee purely to access the Employment Allowance, according to IPSE’s Joshua Toovey
- Integro Accounting believes Burnham has the chance to “iron out a significant wrinkle in the tax system at the same time as making a £650 gesture” to one-person company directors — should he become PM and order an employer NIC review.
When did Labour increase national insurance?
“Labour’s double-hit on employer NICs took effect on April 6th 2025, translating into several hundred pounds of additional annual cost for many Personal Service Companies (PSCs),” began the managing director of Integro — crowned “Best Contractor Accountant” at the Contracting Awards 2024.
“A reversal — if Andy Burnham as prime minister announces it — would remove much of that extra burden, reduce distortions between one-person and two-person companies, and be viewed positively by PSC contractors.
“However, because employer NIC is deductible for corporation tax purposes, the net benefit is smaller than headline figures suggest, which is why I would describe any reversal of employer national insurance changes as offering a tangible benefit rather than being transformative.”
Has Andy Burnham promised to reverse employer National Insurance?
At the time of writing, the MP for Makerfield has committed to neither a review nor a reversal of the two in-force changes to employer NICs.
Integro founder Hickmott is therefore right not to get ahead of himself — his forecast depends on Burnham actually becoming prime minister and following through.
When did Andy Burnham speak about employer NICs?
Asked on June 5th 2026, by the BBC’s Newsnight programme, “Are you promising to reverse the national insurance rise for employers”? — a clear reference to just the headline rate of employer NIC, previously 13.8%, Burnham replied:
“I’m not in a position to make commitments about reversing the [Labour] manifesto. I have said that I thought the weight of the burden on employer’s national insurance wasn’t the right decision.”
How much is employer NICs?
For a one-person limited company director paying themselves an annual salary of £12,570, the employer NICs liability to HMRC costs £1,135 a year, according to tax and payroll expert Carolyn Walsh.
How much will the employer NIC rate returning to 13.8% save directors?
“If the new leader of the Labour government, which seems set to be Andy Burnham, did reverse the employer NICs rate from 15% to 13.8%, the annual saving to such a small business would be a mere £90,” Walsh told Integro Accounting.
Director at Oblako Ltd, Walsh says: “To sole-person contractor limited companies reading this… £90 is a saving that will not fundamentally alter your business’s financial health.”
Unlike Hickmott’s figure, which assumes both the current 15% rate and current £5,000 secondary threshold revert to their 2024/25 levels of 13.8% and £9,100, Walsh’s estimate models Burnham reversing only the rate.
However, reversing employer NIC to the less taxing 13.8% would benefit tax system integrity, according to the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE).
How would a return to 13.8% employer NICs help HMRC?
“Reverting from 15% would help ease an odd quirk for HMRC in its current system,” IPSE’s head of policy and research Joshua Toovey began in a statement to Integro Accounting.
“Currently, some one-person companies weigh up hiring someone purely to become a two-person company so that they can qualify for the Employment Allowance. Set at £10,500 for 2026/27, the Employment Allowance effectively wipes out the company’s employer NICs bill — not that the director actually needed the help of another employee.
“Therefore, reverting employer NIC to 13.8% would take that strange incentive out of the equation, and let people hire for the right reasons again.”
Is it risky to add a spouse or partner to your company for tax planning?
A paper by the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) documents a related risk: spouses or partners added to a limited company’s structure — as a shareholder to split dividend income, for instance — without real knowledge of or control over the arrangement can be left exposed to tax liabilities, and even HMRC penalties, if the relationship later breaks down.
A similar dynamic could arise around the Employment Allowance, according to a chartered tax adviser who declined to be named but told Integro Accounting:
“Reversing the increase in employer National Insurance from 15% to 13.8% could help reduce one of the financial incentives for false self-employment.
“And it could lessen the appeal of artificial or even abusive arrangements designed to avoid employer NICs or access associated reliefs, such as structuring companies to qualify for the Employment Allowance.”
What does a former HMRC officer say if employer NIC doesn’t return to 13.8%?
Payroll and tax adviser Carolyn Walsh, who previously worked for HMRC, said that, if any Andy Burnham-led Labour government doesn’t return employer NICs to 13.8%, directors need to tread carefully.
The former tax official, who inspected for HMRC for eight years, told Integro Accounting: “If you do look to hire someone for your one-person limited company, perhaps by bringing on a family member, proceed with extreme caution.
“My old boss — HMRC — consistently scrutinises ‘artificial’ employment. If the role lacks commercial substance or the remuneration is disproportionate to the work performed, such as paying a significant salary for minimal record-keeping, you risk an HMRC investigation that can lead to cancellation of EA used and a demand for back-employer-NICs, plus HMRC interest.”
Why might Andy Burnham review employer National Insurance?
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, given their impressive credentials, the chartered tax adviser, the former tax inspector and IPSE’s head of policy & research, are all on the money, according to Integro’s Christian Hickmott.
Aside from it returning a “symbolic” but “tangible” £650 to limited company directors, he believes the second strongest reason Andy Burnham might review employer NICs (to set it back where it was before April 6th 2025) is the distortion it would ease.
Do limited company contractors have an opportunity to grow?
Integro Accounting’s boss explains his assessment: “Many contractor limited companies have no commercial opportunity to grow beyond a single fee-earner business.
“The incorporated business structure exists to provide services, not necessarily to recruit staff and grow. Consequently, the National Insurance Employment Allowance can be seen as creating an unreal incentive to add a spouse or other employee, primarily to unlock NIC relief, rather than because the business genuinely needs to expand.
“Should the former mayor of Greater Manchester become the UK’s next prime minister, his government returning the headline rate of employer NIC to 13.8% would not remove that distortion completely, because the Employment Allowance would still exist — but it would materially reduce the gap between one-person and two-person companies.”
What’s Integro Accounting’s overall verdict on Andy Burnham reversing employer NICs?
Hickmott added: “So if history is on his side, Burnham potentially has the chance to iron out a significant wrinkle in the tax system at the same time as making a £650 gesture to the many one-person limited company directors who we know found what represented yet another dent in their take-home pay plainly insulting.”
