The Employment Allowance is available from 6 April 2014. If you are eligible you can reduce your employer Class 1 NICs by up to £2,000 each tax year.

You can claim the Employment Allowance if you are a business or charity that pays employer Class 1 NICs on your employees’ or directors’ earnings.

However, certain employers will be unable to make this claim. You cannot claim the Employment Allowance, for example if you:

• employ someone for personal, household or domestic work, such as a nanny, au pair, chauffeur, gardener, care support worker
• already claim the allowance through a connected company or charity
• are a public authority, this includes; local, district, town and parish councils
• carry out functions either wholly or mainly of a public nature (unless you have charitable status).

HMRC have recently issued updated guidance on excluded employers. Please click here for further details.