Guidance

Rates and thresholds for employers 2016 to 2017

Use these rates and thresholds when you operate your payroll or provide expenses and benefits to your employees.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures quoted apply between 6 April 2016 and 5 April 2017.

PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance contributions

You normally operate PAYE as part of your payroll so HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can collect Income Tax and National Insurance from your employees.

Your payroll software will calculate how much tax and National Insurance (NI) to deduct from your employees鈥 pay.

Tax thresholds, rates and codes

The amount of Income Tax you deduct from your employees depends on their tax code and how much of their taxable income is above their Personal Allowance.

For the tax year 2016 to 2017, the Income Tax information below applies to both Scotland and the rest of the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

PAYE tax rates, thresholds and codes 2016 to 2017
Employee personal allowance 拢212 per week
拢917 per month
拢11,000 per year
Basic tax rate 20% on annual earnings above the PAYE tax threshold and up to 拢32,000
Higher tax rate 40% on annual earnings from 拢32,001 to 拢150,000
Additional tax rate 45% on annual earnings above 拢150,000
Emergency tax codes 1100L W1, 1100L M1 or 1100L X

Class 1 National Insurance thresholds

You can only make National Insurance (NI) deductions on earnings above the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL).

Class 1 NI thresholds 2016 to 2017
Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) 拢112 per week
拢486 per month
拢5,824 per year
Primary Threshold (PT) 拢155 per week
拢672 per month
拢8,060 per year
Secondary Threshold (ST) 拢156 per week
拢676 per month
拢8,112 per year
Upper Secondary Threshold (under 21) (UST) 拢827 per week
拢3,583 per month
拢43,000 per year
Apprentice Upper Secondary Threshold (apprentice under 25) (AUST) 拢827 per week
拢3,583 per month
拢43,000 per year
Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) 拢827 per week
拢3,583 per month
拢43,000 per year

Class 1 National Insurance rates

Employee (primary) contribution rates

Deduct primary contributions (employee鈥檚 National Insurance) from your employees鈥 pay through PAYE.

NI category letter Earnings at or above LEL up to and including PT Earnings above the PT up to and including UEL Balance of earnings above UEL
A 0% 12% 2%
B 0% 5.85% 2%
C NIL NIL NIL
H (Apprentice under 25) 0% 12% 2%
J 0% 2% 2%
M (under 21) 0% 12% 2%
Z (under 21 - deferment) 0% 2% 2%

Employer (secondary) contribution rates

You pay secondary contributions (employer鈥檚 National Insurance) to HMRC as part of your PAYE bill.

Pay employers鈥 PAYE tax and National Insurance.

NI category letter Earnings at or above LEL up to and including ST Earnings above ST up to and including UEL/UST/AUST Balance of earnings above UEL/UST/AUST
A 0% 13.80% 13.80%
B 0% 13.80% 13.80 %
C 0% 13.80% 13.80%
H (Apprentice under 25) 0% 0% 13.80%
J 0% 13.80% 13.80%
M (under 21) 0% 0% 13.80%
Z (under 21 - deferment) 0% 0% 13.80%

Class 1A National Insurance: expenses and benefits

You must pay Class 1A National Insurance on work benefits you give to your employees, eg a company mobile phone. You report and pay Class 1A at the end of each tax year.

NI class 2016 to 2017 rate
Class 1A 13.8%

Pay employers鈥 Class 1A National Insurance.

Class 1B National Insurance: PAYE Settlement Agreements (PSAs)

You pay Class 1B National Insurance if you have a PSA. This allows you to make one annual payment to cover all the tax and National Insurance due on small or irregular taxable expenses or benefits for your employees.

NI class 2016 to 2017 rate
Class 1B 13.8%

Pay Class 1B National Insurance.

National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to by law. Use the National Minimum Wage calculator to check if you鈥檙e paying a worker the National Minimum Wage or if you owe them payments from past years.

The rates below apply from 1 April 2016 and are likely to change again on 1 October 2016.

Category of worker Hourly rate
Aged 25 and above (national living wage rate) 拢7.20
Aged 21 to 24 inclusive 拢6.70
Aged 18 to 20 inclusive 拢5.30
Aged under 18 (but above compulsory school leaving age) 拢3.87
Apprentices aged under 19 拢3.30
Apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship 拢3.30

See National Minimum Wage rates for previous years.

Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay

Use the maternity and paternity calculator for employers to calculate your employee鈥檚 SMP, paternity or adoption pay, their qualifying week, average weekly earnings and leave period.

Type of payment or recovery 2016 to 2017 rate
Statutory maternity pay (SMP) - weekly rate for first six weeks 90% of the employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings
SMP - weekly rate for remaining weeks 拢139.58 or 90% of the employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory paternity pay (SPP) - weekly rate 拢139.58 or 90% of the employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory adoption pay (SAP) - weekly rate for first six weeks 90% of employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings
SAP - weekly rate for remaining weeks 拢139.58 or 90% of the employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
Statutory shared parental pay (ShPP) - weekly rate 拢139.58 or 90% of the employee鈥檚 average weekly earnings, whichever is lower
SMP/SPP/ShPP/SAP - proportion of your payments you can recover from HMRC 92% if your total Class 1 NI (both employee and employer contributions) is above 拢45,000 for the previous tax year

103% if your total Class 1 NI for the previous tax year is 拢45,000 or lower

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

The same weekly SSP rate applies to all employees. However, the amount you must actually pay an employee for each day they鈥檙e off work due to illness (the daily rate) depends on the number of 鈥榪ualifying days鈥 (QDs) they work each week.

Use the SSP calculator to work out your employee鈥檚 sick pay, or use the rates below.

Unrounded daily rates Number of QDs in week 1 day to pay 2 days to pay 3 days to pay 4 days to pay 5 days to pay 6 days to pay 7 days to pay
拢12.6357 7 拢12.64 拢25.28 拢37.91 拢50.55 拢63.18 拢75.82 拢88.45
拢14.7416 6 拢14.75 拢29.49 拢44.23 拢58.97 拢73.71 拢88.45
拢17.6900 5 拢17.69 拢35.38 拢53.07 拢70.76 拢88.45
拢22.1125 4 拢22.12 拢44.23 拢66.34 拢88.45
拢29.4833 3 拢29.49 拢58.97 拢88.45
拢44.2250 2 拢44.23 拢88.45
拢88.4500 1 拢88.45

Student loan recovery

If your employees鈥 earnings are above the earnings threshold, record their student loan deductions in your payroll software. It will automatically calculate and deduct repayments from their pay.

Rate or threshold 2016 to 2017 rate
Employee earnings threshold for Plan 1 拢17,495 per year
拢1,457 per month
拢336 per week
Employee earnings threshold for Plan 2 拢21,000 per year
拢1,750 per month
拢403 per week
Student loan deductions 9%

Company cars: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs)

Use AFRs to work out mileage costs if you provide company cars to your employees.

The rates below apply from 1 September 2016.

Engine size Petrol - amount per mile LPG - amount per mile
1400cc or less 11 pence 7 pence
1401cc to 2000cc 13 pence 9 pence
Over 2000cc 20 pence 13 pence
Engine size Diesel - amount per mile
1600cc or less 9 pence
1601cc to 2000cc 11 pence
Over 2000cc 13 pence

Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose.

Employee vehicles: Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs)

MAPs are what you pay your employees for using their own vehicle for business journeys.

You can pay your employees an 鈥榓pproved amount鈥 of MAPs each year without having to report them to HMRC. To work out the 鈥榓pproved amount鈥, multiply your employee鈥檚 business travel miles for the year by the rate per mile for their vehicle.

Find out more about reporting and paying MAPs.

Type of vehicle Rate per business mile 2016 to 2017
Car For tax purposes: 45 pence for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25 pence for each subsequent mile

For NI purposes: 45 pence for all business miles
Motorcycle 24 pence for both tax and NI purposes and for all business miles
Cycle 20 pence for both tax and NI purposes and for all business miles

Updates to this page

Published 4 February 2016
Last updated 25 August 2016 show all updates
  1. Updates to rates and thresholds for employers 2016 to 2017 for Company cars: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs)

  2. Advisory Fuel Rates from 1 June 2016 have added.

  3. Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for the tax year 2016 to 2017.

  4. Advisory Fuel Rates from 1 March 2016 have updated.

  5. First published.

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