Rises to NICs, wage and statutory rates 2025/2026
From 1 April 2025:
- National Living Wage:
£12.21 per hour for all those aged 21 and over, an increase from £11.44 - National Minimum Wage:
£10 per hour (from £8.60) for those aged 18 – 20
£7.55 per hour (from £6.40) for those aged 16 - 17 and apprentices
From 6 April 2025:
- Increase in employer NICs:
Employers’ NICs will increase to 15% and the threshold from which those payments are made will decrease from £9,100 to £5,000. - The Employment Allowance, allowing eligible small businesses to reduce their NIC liability, is increasing from £5000 to £10,500.
Statutory benefit payments will increase as follows from 6 April 2025:
- Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement, and neonatal care pay will increase to £187.18 (from £184.03) per week (or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower). The lower earnings limited to qualify for these payments increases to £125.
- Maternity allowance (for those not qualifying for Statutory Maternity Pay) also increases to maximum of £187.18 (from £184.03) per week (or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower).
- Standard statutory sick pay (“SSP”) rises to £118.75 (from £116.75). The lower earnings limit to qualify for SSP increases to £125.
New funding for environmental improvements
Oxbury Bank has launched a new Transition Loan Facility for farmers wanting to invest in sustainable farming practices with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and improving soil. According to the bank, the Oxbury Transition Facility will not only provide the funds but it will also help farmers to measure the success of their improvements. It has emphasised that the initiative will be farmer-led, enabling customers to use the facility in whichever way they feel would work best for their farm. For farmers who have already started the transition process, the facility will be available for up to six years, giving them time to implement their plans; for those farmers yet to start the process, a two-year facility will be offered to help them plan and then launch the changes they want to make. This facility will be available in conjunction with other financing initiatives including government grants.
Tenant Farming Commissioner to be appointed
The appointment of an independent Tenant Farming Commissioner was a core recommendation of the Rock Review. Following a call for evidence as part of its response to the Rock Review, the government has confirmed that it will appoint a Commissioner. Their role will be to improve collaboration between tenant farmers, landlords and their advisers, following the standards laid down in the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice by ‘providing a trusted and confidential point of contact for tenants, landlords or advisors who have concerns about poor behaviour.’ An appointment should be confirmed shortly.
New deal for farming
In his speech to the Oxford Farming Conference, Steve Reed committed Defra to a 25-year roadmap based on three principles: food security; making farming profitable; and food production working in harmony with the environment. Packaged as a ‘new deal for farmers’, various measures were announced including buying British for public sector catering contracts; putting British farmers first in trade negotiations; cutting energy bills; improving supply chain fairness; and a £50m flood resilience task force. Planning reforms to support food production were also mentioned to make it easier for farmers to build new on-farm infrastructure for both growth and diversification.
Further policies announced at the NFU Conference in February included extending the seasonal worker visa route until 2029; a £110m funding injection for the Farming Innovation Programme; a £30m increase in Higher Level Stewardship payments for upland farms; confirmation of grants for new equipment via the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund; and a £200m investment to improve animal disease resilience. Mr Reed made no mention of the APR changes at the conference despite promising to ‘put money into the pockets of British farmers’ by ‘making farming more profitable.’
Land Use Framework consultation
Originally recommended in the Dimbleby Review, the government launched a ‘national conversation’ in January (concluded on 25 April) to garner views on land use in England and how to align competing interests so that a finite resource is used as efficiently as possible. Sponsored by Defra, the intention is to develop a cross-departmental approach to land use, encapsulated in a Land Use Framework, so that decisions relating to food production, housing, energy, nature, recreation, and infrastructure are taken holistically rather than set against each other. Despite assurances that such a framework would not be prescriptive, there are fears that if key objectives (relating to, say, the environment, energy infrastructure, or housing targets) are not met, this will result in landowners being told what to do with their land. We will keep this under review.
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