One of the changes announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 was an increase to employer NI from 6 April 2025. Sage 50 Payroll v31 is now available, and it includes the changes to NI legislation. Find out more below about the NI changes, with an example that shows how they can affect liability.
What's changing? The changes on NI category A are: - A decrease to the Secondary Threshold (ST) from £9,100 to £5,000 per year
 TIP: The new threshold breaks down to £417 per month, or £96 per week. - An increase to the rate of NI charged on NIable earnings from 13.8% to 15.0%
These changes mean an employee's pay incurs employer NI sooner than in the 2024/25 tax year, and at a higher rate.
Examples The NI calculation requires you to break the employee's earnings subject to NI down into amounts within each threshold. You can then calculate the NI due at the rate relevant to each threshold.  NOTE: If you'd like to learn more about NI calculations, visit the employee NI calculations article.
To see the effect of the changes, you can view the examples below for an employee paid £2,000 per month on NI category A. The new rates cause an increase of £66.05 in the employer NI due for this employee's pay. Select the options below to view the breakdown of the calculation. ▼ Example using 2024/25 legislation Find out below how much of the employee's pay is within each threshold, and the contribution rate that applies to it. | | Employee's Pay | Employee NI contribution rate | Employee NI contributions | Employer NI contribution rate | Employer NI contributions | | Earnings up to the secondary threshold (ST) | £758 | 0% | £758 @ 0% = £0 | 0% | £758 @ 0% = £0 | | Earnings between the ST and primary threshold (PT) | £1048 - £758 = £290 | 0% | £290 @ 0% = £0 | 13.8% | £290 @ 13.8% = £40.02 | | Earnings between the PT and upper earnings limit (UEL) | £2000 - £1048 = £952 | 8% | £952 @ 8% = £76.16 | 13.8% | £952 @13.8% = £131.376 | | Earnings above the UEL | 0 | 2% | £0 @ 2% = £0 | 13.8% | £0 @ 13.8% = £0 | | Rounded total NI due for the period | | | £76.16 | | £171.40 | The NI due is £76.16 for the employee, and £171.40 for the employer.
▼ Example using 2025/26 legislation Follow the table below to see how much of the employee's pay is within each threshold, and the contribution rate that applies to it. The thresholds are different in this table to the 2024/25 example, due to the changes that apply from the 2025/26 tax year. | | Employee's Pay | Employee NI contribution rate | Employee NI contributions | Employer NI contribution rate | Employer NI contributions | | Earnings up to the secondary threshold (ST) | £417 | 0% | £417 @ 0% = £0 | 0% | £417 @ 0% = £0 | | Earnings between the ST and primary threshold (PT) | £1048 - £417 = £631 | 0% | £631 @ 0% = £0 | 15.0% | £631@ 15.0% = £94.65 | | Earnings between the PT and upper earnings limit (UEL) | £2000 - £1048 = £952 | 8% | £952 @ 8% = £76.16 | 15.0% | £952 @15.0% = £142.80 | | Earnings above the UEL | 0 | 2% | £0 @ 2% = £0 | 15.0% | £0 @ 15.0% = £0 | | Rounded total NI due for the period | | | £76.16 | | £237.45 | The employer NI contributions column shows that more of the employee's pay is subject to employer NI, and at a higher rate. The NI due is £76.16 for the employee, and £237.45 for the employer.
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