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Emergency Budget: Tax breaks on first 10 employees start-up firms in less affluent areas take on

The Government is to offer new firms in Britain's less affluent areas 900 million in tax breaks in order to hire new staff.

The break would mean a National Insurance Contribution holiday for the first 10 employees a start-up business takes on, provided they operate outside London, the East and the South East.

Graham Morgan, a partner at Kingston Smith, told HR magazine: This has been widely touted around. I think this will make a big difference to some businesses. The 12.5% NIC they will save for each employee could make the difference between them recruiting seven members of staff or 10.

And Tor MacLeod: Cost is the biggest barrier to recruitment and any initiative the Government comes up with to help can save employers quite a bit of money.