Concern for local budgets with National Insurance hike

The finance minister is "very concerned" what impact the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions announced in the Chancellor's budget will have on public sector employers in Northern Ireland.

Caoimhe Archibald told Stormont's finance committee that she has also heard concerns for private sector employers and the community and voluntary sectors.

She said that while the government has committed to supporting public sector employers, there are fears this could fall short and put more pressure on local budgets.

"There have been some indications around the expectations of the amount of money that we will get. We think it will fall short of what is required."

She said this will "further compound" the budgetary pressures into next year.

It comes after a similar warning from the Scottish Finance Secretary.

Earlier this week, Shona Robison warned a £300m increase in UK government funding is "simply not good enough" and will not cover a planned rise in employer National Insurance contributions.

The finance minister told the committee that work on next year's budget is at an advanced stage and that, subject to Executive approval, she intends to launch a draft budget in early December.

When asked about her revenue raising proposals on changes to the domestic rating system, such as raising the cap on domestic rates, the committee was told it has not made it on to the Executive agenda yet.

As a result, the deadline for the cut off for next year's rates bill has been missed, so any future decision would not be able to be implemented until the following year.

The NI rise for employers is set to raise £20bn a year making it one of the biggest single tax-raising measures in history.

From next April, employers will have to pay NI at 15% on salaries above £5,000, instead of 13.8% on salaries above £9,100 currently.