“Substantial reduction” for firms outside the south east

Firms setting up outside the south east of England will receive substantial cuts in national insurance contributions (NICs) for the first ten staff that they hire, George Osborne has announced.

In today’s Budget, the chancellor of the exchequer said that to encourage economic growth outside of the UK’s most prosperous regions, new businesses will get a “substantial reduction” in NICs.

Firms setting up in London, the south east and the east of England regions will not be eligible for the reduction.

For the first three years they are in business, employers will not have to pay £5,000 worth of Class 1 employer NICs for their first ten employees.

The scheme is due to start no later than September 2010 and businesses setting up from today (22 June 2010) will be eligible. Further eligibility criteria will be set out in a forthcoming announcement.

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