As expected, Mr Hunt’s main announcement surrounded NICs. In line with prior media reports,
he went even further than the changes he made on NICs in the Autumn Statement last November.

He announced a 2p cut in NICs. From April 6 employee NICS will be cut from 10% to 8%. Meanwhile, self-employed NICS will go from 8% to 6%.

Mr Hunt said: “It means an additional £450 a year for the average employee or £350 for someone self-employed. When combined with the autumn reductions,
it means 27 million employees will get an average tax cut of £900 a year and 2 million self-employed will get a tax cut averaging £650.”

The move is estimated to be worth over £10 billion a year for workers across the UK. Combined with the abolition of the requirement to pay Class 2 NICs,
an average self-employed person on £28,000 will save £650 a year from April 6, the Treasury estimated.

Mr Hunt had already announced a reduction in employees’ National Insurance (NI) by two percentage points from 12% to 10% (for Primary Class 1 contributions)
in November – a change affecting an estimated 27 million people.