• The Employment Allowance can be claimed by any business or charity that pays NICs on employees' or directors' earnings.
• It is set against the employer's entire Class 1 NIC liability each week or month until the maximum £2,000 entitlement is used up.
• It cannot be set against employees' NIC.
• It cannot be set against Class 1A or Class 1B employer NIC.
• Employers can use their own payroll software or HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools to claim.

There are no regional restrictions though there are some excluded employers, and also special rules for groups of companies or charities and for employers running more than one PAYE scheme.

The main group of excluded employers are those who employ someone who is employed (wholly or partly) for purposes connected with the employer's personal, family or household affairs, for example nannies, cleaners or carers.

There is more information on the GOV.UK website, see Employment Allowance.

HMRC has also published more detailed guidance on the rules. This has been updated explaining what to do where a business has one PAYE scheme, but runs more than one payroll. Detailed technical guidance to help employers and their agents determine if their businesses/charities are connected for the purposes of claiming the Employment Allowance has also been published

The National Insurance Contributions Act 2014 contains the detailed legislation implementing the allowance.