Rishi Sunak repeats incorrect claim that Conservatives are cutting taxes by £900 for ‘everyone in work’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Daily Express yesterday that the Conservatives are “now cutting people’s taxes by £900 for everyone in work”. As we’ve written several times before, this is incorrect. 

Mr Sunak appears to be referring to the combined impact of the reduction in National Insurance contributions (NICs) from 10% to 8% introduced in April 2024 and the previous reduction from 12% to 10% introduced in January.

But each of these two reductions are worth savings of around £450 for a worker on the average salary (about £35,000). 

According to the Treasury, £900 is the combined impact of both these NIC reductions—but crucially only for “the average employee on £35,400 in 2024-25”, not “everyone in work” as Mr Sunak said. Some will save less and others more.

Beyond this, Mr Sunak’s claim is missing further important context. 

While a worker on the average salary will see their NIC payments reduced by £900 in 2024/25, this doesn’t take into account the impact of other tax changes, such as ongoing freezes to the thresholds at which NI and income tax are paid. 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that once the impact of all tax changes are taken into account, the average worker will be about £340 better off in 2024/25 and those earning below £26,000 will actually be worse off.

This claim was identified by Full Fact’s own AI tools which you can find more information about on our website.