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are you worried about the autumn budget statement & what it means for your organisation?

  • 1st December 2024
  • Consultations | Third Sector News | TSL Kirklees News |

Find out more, get support & join our campaign

please tell us about the impact on your organisation by Thursday 28th November

We know that this has been a challenging year for many VCSE organisation in Kirkees and beyond, and that many of you are feeling the pressure from increased costs combined with increased demand for services and less funding, and we’re concerned that some of the announcements in the government’s recent budget will make things even more difficult for you. With this in mind, we’re sharing some of the key headlines, details of a support offer from our partners at WYCAS, and information about how you can add your voice national and regional campaigns on this issue. (Please complete a survey so that we’ve got the real life evidence to support this campaign.)

Headlines from the budget

  • National Living Wage to rise by 6.7% to £12.21 from April 2025. The National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will rise to £10 per hour, an increase of 16.3%. Find the full list of rates on the Government website.
  • Working age benefits will increase by 1.7% from April 2025 in line with the September figure for inflation.
  • The employer national insurance contribution (NIC) will increase by 1.2%, from 13.8% to 15% from April 2025. The threshold above which employer NIC is paid will be reduced to £5,000 from £9,100.[AE6] 
  • £1 billion for Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in 2025-26.
  • The overall budget for local government has increased by £1.3 billion primarily through additional funding for social care (£600M), and £230 million for homelessness and rough sleeping. (national totals)
  • There will be a £22.6 billion increase for day-to-day spending for the NHS and an increase of £3.1 billion in the capital budget for 2024-25 and 2025-26.
  • The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will continue for a further year at a reduced rate of £900M.
  • £240 million for pathfinder projects for employment support programmes as part of plans in the Get Britain Working White Paper.
  • Charitable relief for business rates is retained, including for charity shops.

Whilst there are some clear positives in these announcements, for example, any increase in the National Minimum and Living Wages will have a benefit for millions of low-paid workers, and we welcome the continuation of the Household Support Fund, Discretionary Housing Payments, and UKSPF funding, our main areas of concern are:

  • Increased costs – when salary and National Insurance costs increase next year, organisations will have to subsidise existing grants and contracts with money from their reserves or for overheads or from other charitable funding will potentially have to cover these additional costs from money allocated for overheads or with reserves or other charitable funding
  • Recruitment challenges – the increase in National Living Wage will make it harder to distinguish between unskilled jobs and entry-level or administrative charity roles and may add to current recruitment challenges
  • Lower wage increases – the increase in National Insurance costs will prevent organisations from pay rises to existing charity staff
  • Underfunding of key infrastructure and services – as the government continues to address funding challenges in both health and local government, review how they work. and plan for the future, VCSE organisations are stepping in to provide more and more essential services and help reduce demand on these public sector services, however our contribution continues to be underfunded and underresourced

What support is available?

  • Help from WYCAS:
    • You can use WYCAS’s simple wage costs spreadsheet – to work out how your costs will go up next April. (Please tell us these figures in our survey below.)
    • You can book a free 30-minute advice session with a Community Accountant, any Monday afternoon until 16th December, if you have budgeting questions or need help to use any of their accounting tools. To book, email info@wycas.org.uk and put ‘Free Budgeting Support’ in the e-mail subject.
  • Help from us – If you need urgent help, please complete our enquiry form.

What are we doing?

National campaigns are being led by NCVO and ACEVO , and here in West Yorkshire, we’ve teamed up with the other VCSE support organisations to jointly campaign about the potential impact of the budget on our sector. We are writing to all the West Yorkshire MPs and the regional mayor, Tracy Brabin, to highlight our concerns and to ask for their support, and we would like to ask you to join us in adding weight and evidence to our campaign.

What can you do?

  1. Complete our short survey – tell us what impact increased NI will have on your organisation. We have teamed up with the other infrastructure charities in West Yorkshire to build the picture of the impact of these plans and advocate at a local and regional level. Complete by Thursday 28th November at 3pm
  2. Use our template to write to your MP – you can use the figures calculated above in this letter and find contact details for your MP on the UK Parliament website.

More information about Employer National Insurance Contributions

The rate of employer NIC will increase by 1.2%, from 13.8% to 15%, from 6 April 2025. The per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will be reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year. This means that more low paid jobs are brought into employer NIC.

Gross incomeAdditional Employer NIC per year from 5 April 2025 (estimates)
£30,000+ £866
£22,220 (National Living Wage – 35 hours per week)+ £773
£9,000+ £600 – would previously have been £0

The Office for Budget Responsibility, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation both suggest that these additional employer costs will feed through either as reduced wage growth or a reduction in wages [for those not on National Living or Minimum Wages]. These organisations suggest that it is unlikely that, overall, there will be fewer people working as a result.

To support small businesses including charities and community sports associations, the Employment Allowance which reduces employer NI liability, will increase from £5,000 to £10,500. This will effectively reduce the total employer NI liability by £10,500 in 2025-26 and will apply to all eligible employers. HM Treasury estimate that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs next year, and a further 1 million will pay the same or less NI than last year. Further information is needed to understand the full implications of this for VCSE organisations.

Resources where you can read more

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