§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the upper and lower earnings limits for national insurance contributions, the latest figure for average earnings for males and females in manufacturing and in non-manufacturing, respectively, and the cash contribution payable in all six cases by a contracted-out employer and the employee, inclusive of any surcharge.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe information requested is as follows:
Contracted-out contributions standard rate Earnings a week Employee Employer (includes NI surcharge) Lower earnings limit 1981/82 £27 £2.09 £3.70 Average earnings *September 1981: (a) Female manufacturing £85.40 £5.16 £9.07 (b) Female non-manufacturing £97.90 £5.81 £10.22 (c) Male manufacuring £140.70 £8.06 £14.16 (d) Male non-manufacturing £144.60 £8.26 £14.52 Upper earnings limit 1981–82 £200 £11.17 £19.62 * Provisional figures.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of full-time workers is exempt from national insurance contributions; what proportion of contributors is contracted out; and what is the annual cash contribution of an employee who is contracted out and whose earnings are, respectively, at the median, upper and lower quartiles, and at the minimum and maximum of the range of current earnings limit.
155W
§ Mrs. ChalkerAll employees except those who are of pensionable age must pay national insurance contributions once their earnings reach the lower limit for liability. In 1979–80 there were 718,000 employees of pensionable age with earnings above the lower limit for liability: no figures are available for the number of employees with no contribution liability because their earnings were below this limit. The remaining information requested is as follows:
Class 1 standard rate—contracted out Men and women Annual earnings (£) Employees annual contribution (£) Lower earnings limit 1,404 108.81 Men* Median 6,578.0 380.44 Upper quartile 8,517.6 482.27 Lower quartile 5,246.8 310.56 Women* Median 4,274.4 259.51 Upper quartile 5,548.4 326.39 Lower quartile 3,447.6 216.10 Upper earnings limit 10,400 581.10 * Figures for April 1981, the latest date for which they are available in the form requested.