Prepare for the Health and Social Care Levy
Find out about the Health and Social Care Levy including how it might affect your National Insurance contributions.
Your National Insurance contributions might increase when the Health and Social Care Levy comes into effect in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) on 6 April 2022.
The increase in your contributions will be used to help fund the NHS, health and social care.
You should read this guidance to prepare for the levy if you are:
- an employer
- self-employed
- an employee
- self-employed or an employee and above State Pension age from April 2023
You will not be affected by these changes if you’re above State Pension age and are not an employee or self-employed. Find out more information in the ‘If you’re above the State Pension age’ section.
What the changes are and when they will affect you
For tax year 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023
Employer Class 1, employee Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 National Insurance contributions will increase, for one year, by 1.25 percentage points.
From 6 April 2023
The National Insurance contribution rates will go back down to 2021 to 2022 levels. The levy will then become a separate new tax of 1.25%.
How the levy will affect you
Between 6 April 2022 and 5 April 2023
If you are an employer, employee or self-employed (and below the State Pension age), you will pay the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions.
From 6 April 2023
The separate levy of 1.25% will apply to the same amounts for the following classes of National Insurance contributions:
- Class 1 that are above the primary and secondary thresholds
- Class 1A and Class 1B for employers
- Class 4 for the self-employed
All existing National Insurance contribution reliefs will apply to the separate levy for:
- employees under the age of 21
- apprentices under the age of 25
- qualifying Freeport employees
- those eligible for the Employment Allowance
- armed forces veterans
HMRC will collect the levy through existing PAYE payroll and Self Assessment systems.
Updates to this page
Last updated 22 September 2022 + show all updates
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The Health and Social Care Levy will no longer go ahead. From 6 November 2022, the temporary 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance rates is being reversed for the rest of the financial year. The introduction of a separate Health and Social Care Levy tax in April 2023 has been cancelled.
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You can now use the Health and Social Care Levy interactive guidance tool to check if you’ll need to pay the Health and Social Care Levy in the tax year 2022 to 2023.
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Added translation
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Updated to clarify that for the tax year 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023 employer Class 1, employee Class 1, Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 National Insurance contributions will increase by 1.25 percentage points rather than 1.25%.
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First published.