Chancellor Hammond U-turns on self-employed NIC rates hike

Announced NIC rise in Budget last week

Chancellor Philip Hammond has dropped proposals to raise National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed, as announced in his Budget speech last week.

In a letter to the Treasury committee, Hammond (pictured) said the government would backtrack on the proposals following criticism the party was breaking its election manifesto, the Guardian reported. The Chancellor (pictured) had told parliament in his Budget speech that Class 4 NICs for the self-employed would rise from 9% to 10% in 2018 and then up a further percentage point to 11% in 2019.  He said the rate hike was being introduced in an effort to reduce the gap in rates paid by the self-employed and by employees. The measure caused a furious backlash from Conservative backben...