# Employer National Insurance on an apprentice under 25: £0 up to £967 a week, against £1,590 a year on the same wage

> GOV.UK 2026-27: employer NI on an apprentice under 25 is 0% up to £967 a week and 15% above. Against a standard employee at £8, £10.85 and £12.71 an hour.

- Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/trades/apprentice-employer-ni-zero-under-25-trades-firm-967-a-week-15-percent-above-worked/
- Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/)
- Section: Trades and building firms, Rules and paperwork
- Published 29 October 2026
- Key fact: On a 37.5-hour week, £8 an hour is £15,600 a year; a standard employee would add £1,590.00 of employer NI ((15,600 - 5,000) x 15%), an apprentice under 25 adds £0. At £10.85 an hour (£21,157.50) the saving is £2,423.63; at £12.71 (£24,784.50) it is £2,967.68. The £50,270 threshold is 2.03 times the £12.71 wage (50,270 / 24,784.50), so none of these wages reaches it.
- Sources: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027): secondary threshold £96 a week, £417 a month, £5,000 a year; employer rate 15% for category A; apprentice upper secondary threshold (apprentice under 25) £967 a week, £4,189 a month, £50,270 a year, category H at 0% up to and including it and 15% above. Hourly rates from GOV.UK, National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates. Read 29 October 2026.

You have priced an apprentice at £8 an hour and added the usual employer National Insurance as if they were any other starter. Is that the right sum, or does the rule for apprentices under 25 change it?

## What GOV.UK says

The employer rates page for 2026 to 2027 lists these figures:

| Point | Figure |
|---|---|
| Secondary threshold (standard employee) | £96 a week, £417 a month, £5,000 a year |
| Employer rate, category A | 15% above the threshold |
| Apprentice upper secondary threshold (apprentice under 25) | £967 a week, £4,189 a month, £50,270 a year |
| Category H (apprentice under 25) | 0% up to and including that threshold, 15% above it |

So for an apprentice under 25 the employer pays nothing on earnings up to £967 a week. A standard employee costs 15% on everything above £96 a week. That is the first-year apprentice from [the apprentice pay guide](https://aeolookup.com/trades/apprentice-minimum-wage-8-pounds-first-year-19-or-over-trades-firm-weekly-cost-worked/) and the same hours at the higher age rates.

## What it saves at three hourly rates

Take 37.5 hours a week for 52 weeks. I use the annual figures (the £5,000 threshold), so each result is the same sum you would get from the yearly total.

| Hourly rate | Weekly pay | Yearly pay | Standard employee: (yearly - £5,000) x 15% | Apprentice under 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £8.00 | £300.00 | £15,600.00 | £1,590.00 | £0 |
| £10.85 | £406.88 | £21,157.50 | £2,423.63 | £0 |
| £12.71 | £476.63 | £24,784.50 | £2,967.68 | £0 |

The working: 15,600 - 5,000 = 10,600, and 10,600 x 0.15 = 1,590. 21,157.50 - 5,000 = 16,157.50, and x 0.15 = 2,423.625, shown as £2,423.63. 24,784.50 - 5,000 = 19,784.50, and x 0.15 = 2,967.675, shown as £2,967.68. Run weekly, the £96 threshold gives pennies of difference because 52 x £96 is £4,992, not £5,000.

Put as total cost to the firm in year one at £8 an hour: £15,600 + £1,590 = £17,190 for a standard employee, against £15,600 for an apprentice under 25. In the 18 to 20 band: £21,157.50 + £2,423.63 = £23,581.13, against £21,157.50.

The £967 a week limit is far above any of these. Even at £12.71 an hour, £476.63 is under half of it (476.63 x 2 = 953.26), so the 15% above the limit does not arise.

## What to put in place

- **Record the date of birth and the apprenticeship** for each person at the start, so the payroll software is told the right category from the first pay day. I did not read how the category is chosen in payroll or what proof is needed.
- **Watch the 25th birthday.** The page says under 25; from that point the standard rate applies, so in the cost sheet put the date in as a step, as you would the move from the apprentice rate to the age rate.
- **Compare with the standard cost** in [the first-employee employer National Insurance guide](https://aeolookup.com/trades/first-employee-employer-national-insurance-15-percent-5000-employment-allowance-trades/) before you decide who to take on.

## What I did not read

I read the one GOV.UK rates page for the thresholds and the hourly rates page for the wages. I did not read what counts as an apprenticeship for category H, whether an apprentice who is not on an approved scheme qualifies, how the Employment Allowance interacts with a zero-rated wage, how the category is used on the payroll submission, or what happens with a mid-year birthday. Ask your payroll provider or adviser before you act on a real case.

Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) builds AI staff who join your trades team and keep each starter's date of birth, pay rate and National Insurance category, work out the weekly cost and flag the 25th birthday ahead of time, and put it in front of the office manager, who decides what to do.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Check the GOV.UK pages and your adviser for your own firm.

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General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.