Member

I have been contacted by the wonderful AgeGroup, referenced by the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, last time we met, which operates a number of local Age UKs throughout the UK. It advises me that it ran a survey with its local partners—this is how it works—to understand the repercussions of the changes. Sixty-nine respondents from local Age UKs and partners in Wales and Scotland described the impact that the employer national insurance, alongside the national living wage, will have on their organisations. The changes to employer NICs will cost 63 local Age UKs some £6.27 million a year. Seven out of 10 local charities indicated that these changes would decrease their ability to deliver services to older people. Seven out of 10 local charities said the changes meant that they were needing to consider reductions in staffing, which, as I said last time, is indicative of the huge increase in unemployment we are going to see as a result of these NIC increases. Five out of 10 of the local charities said they were now having to consider cutting services or handing back contracts.