The total tax take from April to May 2025 rose to £142.8bn, £8.6bn higher than the same period in 2024, mainly influenced by income tax, National Insurance and VAT receipts which soared by £6.1bn.

In May 2024 HMRC took £84bn in income tax, capital gains tax (CGT) and national insurance contributions (NICs), rising from £77.9bn in May 2024, with one third of the increase (£2bn) coming from the rise in employers’ NICs.

Employers paid a total of £8.73bn in NICs in May 2024, fast forward to this May, one month after the 1.2% increase and the reduction in the employment threshold from 6 April, and the figure is up by £1.92bn to £10.66bn.

If this trend continues through the rest of this tax year, then Rachel Reeves’ £22bn black hole will be filled and the Treasury’s projected £24bn from the NICs hike will have produced the results they wanted, but the likeliness of this happening is not certain as already companies are looking to cut jobs to reduce their employment costs.

Rac