Rates and Thresholds for Employers

Unless otherwise stated, the figures quoted apply between 6 April 2015 and 5 April 2016.

PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance contributions

You normally operate PAYE as part of your payroll so HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can collect Income Tax and National Insurance from your employees.
Your payroll software will calculate how much tax and National Insurance (NI) to deduct from your employees’ pay.

Tax thresholds, rates and codes

The amount of Income Tax you deduct from your employees depends on their tax code and how much of their taxable income is above their Personal Allowance.

PAYE tax rates, thresholds and codes	2015 to 2016
Employee personal allowance	£204 per week £883 per month £10,600 per year
Basic tax rate	20% on annual earnings above the PAYE tax threshold and up to £31,785
Higher tax rate	40% on annual earnings from £31,786 to £150,000
Additional tax rate	45% on annual earnings above £150,000
Emergency tax codes	1060L W1, 1060L M1 or 1060L X

Class 1 National Insurance thresholds

You can only make National Insurance (NI) deductions on earnings above the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL).

Class 1 NI thresholds	2015 to 2016
Lower Earnings Limit (LEL)	£112 per week £486 per month £5,824 per year
Primary Threshold (PT)	£155 per week £672 per month £8,060 per year
Secondary Threshold (ST)	£156 per week £676 per month £8,112 per year
Upper Accrual Point (UAP)	£770 per week £3,337 per month £40,040 per year
Upper Secondary Threshold (under 21) (UST)	£815 per week £3,532 per month £42,385 per year
Upper Earnings Limit (UEL)	£815 per week £3,532 per month £42,385 per year

Class 1 National Insurance rates

Employee (primary) contribution rates

Deduct primary contributions (employee’s National Insurance) from your employees’ pay through PAYE.

NI category letter	Earnings at or above LEL up to and including PT	Earnings above the PT up to and including UAP	Earnings above UAP up to and including UEL	Balance of earnings above UEL
A	0%	12%	12%	2%
B	0%	5.85%	5.85%	2%
C	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
D	1.4% rebate	10.60%	12%	2%
E	0%	5.85%	5.85%	2%
I (under 21)	1.4% rebate	10.60%	12%	2%
J	0%	2%	2%	2%
K (under 21 - deferment)	1.4% rebate	2%	2%	2%
L	1.4% rebate	2%	2%	2%
M (under 21)	0%	12%	12%	2%
Z (under 21 - deferment)	0%	2%	2%	2%

Employer (secondary) contribution rates

You pay secondary contributions (employer’s National Insurance) to HMRC as part of your PAYE bill.
Pay employers’ PAYE tax and National Insurance.

NI category letter	Earnings at or above LEL up to and including ST	Earnings above ST up to and including UAP	Earnings above UAP up to and including UEL/UST	Balance of earnings above UEL/UST	NICs rebate on earnings above LEL, up to and including ST	NICs rebate on earnings above ST, up to and including UAP
A	0%	13.80%	13.80%	13.80%	N/A	N/A
B	0%	13.80%	13.80%	13.80 %	N/A	N/A
C	0%	13.80%	13.80%	13.80%	N/A	N/A
D	0%	10.40%	13.80%	13.80%	3.40%	NIL
E	0%	10.40%	13.80%	13.80%	3.40%	NIL
I (under 21)	0%	0%	0%	13.80%	3.40%	3.40%
J	0%	13.80%	13.80%	13.80%	N/A	N/A
K (under 21 - deferment)	0%	0%	0%	13.80%	3.40%	3.40%
L	0%	10.40%	13.80%	13.80%	3.40%	NIL
M (under 21)	0%	0%	0%	13.80%	N/A	N/A
Z (under 21 - deferment)	0%	0%	0%	13.80%	N/A	N/A

Class 1A National Insurance: expenses and benefits

You must pay Class 1A National Insurance on work benefits you give to your employees, eg a company mobile phone. You report and pay Class 1A at the end of each tax year.

NI class	2015 to 2016 rate
Class 1A	13.8%

Pay employers’ Class 1A National Insurance.

Class 1B National Insurance: PAYE Settlement Agreements (PSAs)

You pay Class 1B National Insurance if you have a PSA. This allows you to make one annual payment to cover all the tax and National Insurance due on small or irregular taxable expenses or benefits for your employees.

NI class	2015 to 2016 rate
Class 1B	13.8%

Pay Class 1B National Insurance.

National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to by law. Use the National Minimum Wage calculator to check if you’re paying a worker the National Minimum Wage or if you owe them payments from past years.
The rates below apply from 1 October 2014 and are likely to change again on 1 October 2015.

Category of worker	Hourly rate
Aged 21 and above	£6.50
Aged 18 to 20 inclusive	£5.13
Aged under 18 (but above compulsory school leaving age)	£3.79
Apprentices aged under 19	£2.73
Apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship	£2.73

See National Minimum Wage rates for previous years.

Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay

Use the maternity and paternity calculator for employers to calculate your employee’s SMP, paternity or adoption pay, their qualifying week, average weekly earnings and leave period.

Type of payment or recovery	2015 to 2016 rate
Statutory maternity pay (SMP) - weekly rate for first six weeks	90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings
SMP - weekly rate for remaining weeks	£139.58 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Ordinary statutory paternity pay (OSPP) and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) - weekly rate	£139.58 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory adoption pay (SAP) - weekly rate	£139.58 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
SMP/OSPP/ASPP/SAP - proportion of your payments you can recover from HMRC	92% if your total Class 1 NI (both employee and employer contributions) is above £45,000 for the previous tax year 103% if your total Class 1 NI for the previous tax year is £45,000 or lower

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

The same weekly SSP rate applies to all employees. However, the amount you must actually pay an employee for each day they’re off work due to illness (the daily rate) depends on the number of ‘qualifying days’ (QDs) they work each week.
Use the SSP calculator to work out your employee’s sick pay, or use the rates below.

Unrounded daily rates	Number of QDs in week	1 day to pay	2 days to pay	3 days to pay	4 days to pay	5 days to pay	6 days to pay	7 days to pay
£12.6357	7	£12.64	£25.28	£37.91	£50.55	£63.18	£75.82	£88.45
£14.7416	6	£14.75	£29.49	£44.23	£58.97	£73.71	£88.45
£17.6900	5	£17.69	£35.38	£53.07	£70.76	£88.45
£22.1125	4	£22.12	£44.23	£66.34	£88.45
£29.4833	3	£29.49	£58.97	£88.45
£44.2250	2	£44.23	£88.45
£88.4500	1	£88.45

Student loan recovery

If your employees’ earnings are above the earnings threshold, record their student loan deductions in your payroll software. It will automatically calculate and deduct repayments from their pay.

Rate or threshold	2015 to 2016 rate
Employee earnings threshold	£17,335 per year £1,444 per month £333 per week
Student loan deductions	9%

Company cars: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs)

Use AFRs to work out mileage costs if you provide company cars to your employees.
The rates below apply from 1 March 2015.

Engine size	Petrol	LPG
1400cc or less	11p	8p
1401cc to 2000cc	13p	10p
Over 2000cc	20p	14p

Engine size	Diesel
1600cc or less	9p
1601cc to 2000cc	11p
Over 2000cc	14p

Employee vehicles: Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs)

MAPs are what you pay your employees for using their own vehicle for business journeys.
You can pay your employees an ‘approved amount’ of MAPs each year without having to report them to HMRC. To work out the ‘approved amount’, multiply your employee’s business travel miles for the year by the rate per mile for their vehicle.
Find out more about reporting and paying MAPs.

Type of vehicle	Rate per business mile 2015 to 2016
Car	For tax purposes: 45p for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25p for each subsequent mile For NI purposes: 45p for all business miles
Motorcycle	24p for both tax and NI purposes and for all business miles
Cycle	20p for both tax and NI purposes and for all business miles