A much needed boost for Military in Business® 

Some good news, especially welcome within the SME community where every penny counts. On 21st July 2020, the Government published this consultation document to honour its manifesto commitment to back our veterans, by scrapping employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for a full year for every new employee who has left the Armed Forces.  

It is important to mention that this largely came about following a joint lobbying effort between X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). In the 18 months preceding the Spring Budget announcement XFE and FSB had been working together, through research, reporting and lobbying, to get this noticed at the highest ministerial level, keeping the pressure on despite constant changes in government. 

The culmination of this work in partnership means that all businesses across the UK, irrelevant of size, can support the service leaver whilst boosting business. The NICs relief will be available to employers of veterans from April 2021. 

Important notice: Now we are in the consultation phase I would urge our partners, and wider armed forces community, to get involved. The consultation is running for 12 weeks. It started on 21 July 2020 and closes on 5 October 2020. Our colleagues at the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) and The Forces Employment Charity (RFEA) have already agreed to raise awareness amongst employers and we unite in our messaging through the Cobseo Employment Cluster. 

This has been a lengthy but worthwhile journey.  Now let’s also, in parallel, help our community to survive and revive to make those jobs available as much as possible.