National Insurance Rates

Under Gordon Brown the Labour government increased the rate of national insurance by 1% for most people (rather than doing it on income tax and raising more controversy).

Therefore the rates at the time of writing are as follows:

If you get more than £100 in pay per week (in the technical parlance they call this the 'earnings threshold'), and if you don't get more than £670 a week then you pay 11%, known as class 1 NIC.

Above the £670 per week there is one more percent again to pay, a reward for earning a decent salary from the government!

Self employed people pay what's known as class 2 national insurance, this is at a flat rate weekly amount of £2.20, then there is class 4 which is a percentage of your taxable profits.

For those who earn under £4,635 there is the possibilty of a small earnings exception where you don't have any class 2 NICs, you can find out more by viewing the government tax website.