Unsure of the changes coming into play for the new financial year? Get all your questions answered about National Insurance, tax codes, pensions and more, just keep reading.
Reduction to the Class 1 National Insurance Rate
Great news, all employees liable to pay National Insurance contributions, with earnings over £12,570, will benefit from the main rate of employee Class 1 National Insurance contributions reducing by 2 percentage points from 10% to 8% from 6 April 2024.Check out the government guidance for more information: Reduction to the main rates of primary Class 1 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Changes to Tax Codes
Some employees will have changes to their tax codes applied in April 2024. HMRC will notify you in writing of any change in coding. Don’t forget, it is your responsibility to ensure your tax code is correct and its now easier than ever to register for a Personal Tax Account to review your tax records. Follow the government guidance here: Personal tax account: sign in or set up - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Check out the Shared Services guidance for more information: Tax code queries | Staff and managers (hants.gov.uk)Pension Bandings
The contribution bands for some pension schemes change in April. Changes to your salary from pay increases may cause a change in pension band. More info about the bandings from 1 April can be found below:
LGPS Your contributions :: LGPS (lgpsmember.org)
Teachers’ Pensions Updates to contribution rates | 02 | 2024 (teacherspensions.co.uk)
Police Pensions Officer contributions | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)
Fire Pensions How much do I pay? | Firefighters' Pension Scheme (fpsmember.org)
Incremental Progression
Some employees are due pay increments from 1 April each year. If you are eligible this will be updated automatically for you, you will note the change in salary on your payslip.
Teachers’ Pensions For pensions purposes you will note your April contribution is split on your payslip and pension service record between 1–5 April and 6–30 April. The overall deduction will equate to a normal month.
The employer rate of pension contribution for Teachers has increased from 23.68% to 28.68%.
Student Loans
Student loan threshold will rise from 6 April 2024 as per the above table. Don’t be alarmed by the new Plan 5 loan which launched in September 2023. Plan 5 loan repayments won't start until April 2026 at the earliest, even for students who drop out early.
Statutory Payments and National Minimum Wage increases
The weekly rates of Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement Pay have been increased to £184.03 or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).
National Minimum Wage increased to £11.44 for anyone aged over 21. The rate for under 21s has not changed.
P60s
Shared Services will publish your P60 through Employee Self Service by end of April. P60s are only provided to employees who are still employed on 5 April 2024.
Need support?
If you have any questions, our excellent guidance pages should give you all the answers you need, just visit the Shared Services Portal. However, if you feel like you need some more help, the expert team at Shared Services are happy to help you. Why not try a webchat to get a quick and easy answer, just look for the orange webchat icon on the guidance page.