The ABI is urging the Chancellor to announce a freeze on any further rises in insurance premium tax, warning that recent rises have added £100 a year to household bills.

In advance of the Autumn Statement on 23 November, the ABI is urging the Government to freeze the rate of Insurance Premium Tax to help keep household bills for “millions of families who are just managing” as low as possible. It calls the the IPT rises a “raid on the responsible.”

Since November 2015, the Government has increased IPT by two-thirds from 6% to 10%. IPT affects car, home, pet, private medical insurance and cash plans, as well as most commercial insurances.

The ABI calculates that the combined impact of the rises in IPT from 6% to 9.5% in November 2015, and then by a further 0.5% to 10% in October this year could have added an extra £109 to the annual insurance bill of a typical household, on the basis of:

• A further £52.50 on the cost of the average private medical insurance policy
• More than £32 on the average comprehensive motor policy, assuming two cars
• Over £12.50 on the price of the average combined buildings and contents policy
• More than £12 to the cost of the average pet insurance policy

James Dalton, ABI’s director of general insurance policy, said:
“It is time to stop this raid on the responsible. IPT is penalising millions of households and businesses throughout the UK who are doing the right thing by taking out insurance to protect themselves against many of life’s expensive uncertainties.

“The Prime Minister has said she wants to help those who are just managing. This tax impacts hardest on those least able to afford it, and often in greatest need of the protection that insurance provides. Any further hike in IPT could not only affect millions of people directly in their pocket, but result in some people reducing or dropping their insurance cover completely.”

Any further rise in IPT could put a further strain on many household budgets. It says for example on health insurance any Government action that could increase the cost of private health insurance contrary to the desire to help relieve pressure on the NHS.