Policy Voice November 2024 Employers' National Insurance contributions, employment rights reforms, quarterly negative impact tracking

Policy Voice is a monthly survey of IoD members who share their views on current business issues, providing statistical evidence and anecdotal detail we use in our government engagements, consultations, and policy papers.

Responses to our survey in November were used to respond to government consultations on elements of the Employment Rights Bill. Data in this survey will also be used to set our advocacy focus in 2025, and be passed to HM Treasury officials following the fallout from the Autumn Budget.

This data also contributed to our Director’s Economic Confidence Index, which we send directly into the heart of government each month. In November, confidence fell to -65 and for the fourth month running. This brought business confidence in the wider UK economy to close to its record low, in April 2020 (-69) at the onset of the Covid pandemic, and marks the second lowest reading of the Index since it began in July 2016. This was reported widely in the media.