I thank all noble Lords for their engagement on these regulations, and indulging in what the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, referred to as a piece of social policy archaeology. It is important that we have been able to bring forward these regulations, and I therefore completely acknowledge the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, and others about the complications in our approach, and the speed with regard to these particular regulations.
Just by way of a bit of a further explanation for this set of regulations, HMRC had previously identified a different legislative vehicle to provide for this measure. However, that legislative vehicle was not a viable option once it had been confirmed that there was no longer sufficient time for scrutiny to take place within the usual timeframe. That was an oversight, and HMRC has moved quickly to prepare this piece of relevant legislation. It is with regret that we had to expedite the consideration for this measure. However, to ensure that the levy is applied fairly, these regulations need to come into force ahead of 6 April. We have written to both the JSCI and the SLSC to explain the reasons for this delay and to ensure appropriate scrutiny.
I heard the point made by my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering, echoed by the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, about the need to extend this measure to this particular cohort. While that may be debated, when the measure was announced it was included in that cohort, and now payroll and others are expecting it to go ahead. That is why it is important that we have been able to provide for it.
In response to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Jones, about engagement with business, especially small businesses, we have engaged with payroll providers to ensure that the new rates, including the married women’s reduced rate, are updated.
A number of noble Lords asked for further zoning in on the numbers affected. As I said, in 2019 we reviewed the number of eligible women who could apply for this rate and compared this against multiple data sources. We recently conducted a scan of NICs records in the 2020-21 tax year, which looks at around 2% of employees. We found two individuals qualifying for the married women’s reduced rate. Extrapolating from this would suggest that there are currently around 100 cases, but I remind noble Lords that these are not actual figures but estimates. Due to both the fact that this is an estimate and the small numbers involved, it is not possible to break down those affected into England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, et cetera.