In April 2025, employer National Insurance contributions increased from 13.8% to 15%, with the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance reduced from £9,100 to £5,000 per year. However, this increase has yet to be reflected early years funding rates.
The national living wage also increased by 6.7% for employees ages 21 and over, and the national minimum wage rose by 16.3% for 18-20 years olds, and 18% for under-18s and apprentices. While the Department for Education has said that these rises have been reflected in early years funding rates, the approach used does not take into account the need to maintain wage differentials between more senior and more junior staff members.
What are we calling for?
We at the Alliance are calling on the government to:
- either exempt early years providers from the National Insurance changes or commit to funding the rises in full
- review the way it currently factors minimum wage increases into early years funding rate rises to ensure they reflect the need to maintain wage differentials
How can you help?
Write to your MP
We need as many early years providers as possible to write to their local MPs on this vital issue – and to make it as quick and easy as possible for you, we’ve created a virtual template letter that you can use.
Share our template parent letter with your families
We know that the support of parents and carers is vital when it comes to putting the pressure on government to adequately support our sector – which is why we’ve also created a template letter for you to share with families at your setting.
