Start-up travel firms could save £5,000 a year for each new employee they take on through a new National Insurance contributions (NICs) ‘holiday’ initiative.
The scheme has been introduced to encourage job creation in UK regions most reliant on public sector employment, ahead of swingeing cuts as the Government bids to reduce the national debt.
The ‘Regional Employer NICs Holiday for New Businesses’ claims to offer substantial reductions in employer NICs for new businesses.
Eligible businesses will be able to take a ‘holiday’ for each of the first ten staff they hire in their first year of business under the three-year scheme.
Each ‘holiday’ will last for the first 52 weeks the employee is in post, providing these weeks fall within the three-year ‘holiday’ period.
New businesses taking advantage of the scheme will be able to save up to £50,000 in employer NICs – £5,000 per employee, up to a maximum of ten new employees.
The regions and countries that will benefit are the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West, the East Midlands, the West Midlands, the South West, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The scheme is open to new businesses set up on or after June 22, and will run until September 5, 2013.
Exchequer secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said: “We need to rebalance our economy, which has become over reliant on public spending and jobs provided by the public sector.
“The NICs holiday for new businesses, in addition to cuts in corporation tax, will help provide a valuable boost to start up businesses, and help foster the private sector led recovery that will drive growth in the UK over the coming years.