This week we’re celebrating a correction in the Telegraph and taking a look at some big claims made about tax and crime.
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Dear Friend,
You might remember at the end of January we wrote to the Telegraph seeking a correction after the Prime Minister wrote in a comment piece for the newspaper that the government has got NHS 18-week waits down by 90% since January 2023. This is not true.
18-week waits for non-emergency NHS treatment in England have risen by 4-9% since a government pledge to reduce waiting lists. The exact amount depends on which month you use as a starting point.
Following our intervention the Telegraph has subsequently taken action to correct the claim in the comment piece and released a correction.
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Full Fact routinely writes to politicians seeking corrections when they misspeak or say something that is untrue, providing a vital service for the media.
When politicians or media outlets correct themselves it can be a powerful reminder of what we should expect from our leaders and press.
Public donations to Full Fact mean we can find and check false claims, and demand corrections.
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Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
** Do you pay 12% in National Insurance? ([link removed])
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A video circulating on several social media platforms claims that people in the UK pay 20% “of anything over £12,570 per year” in income tax and that National Insurance payments are “12% of anything over £9,500 a year”.
** 1. Employees pay 12% of anything over £9,500 a year in National Insurance.
Incorrect. Employees start paying National Insurance, at 10%, on earnings above £1,048 a month (or £12,576 a year). This will fall to 8% in April.
2. UK employees pay 20% of anything over £12,570 a year in income tax.
Not quite. While employees in the UK do not pay income tax on earnings up to £12,570, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland a higher rate of tax is paid on earnings over £50,271. Different rates and thresholds apply in Scotland.
3. By law, employers need to take 8% of an employee’s salary to put into their pension.
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Employers have a legal obligation to automatically enrol employees into a workplace pension if they meet certain criteria. However, employees can opt out of this at any time.
Click read more to look at our analysis of each of the claims in more depth.
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** What do we know about knife crime levels since 2010? ([link removed])
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In Parliament on 26 February Labour’s shadow minister for policing Alex Norris MP claimed that knife crime was “up by 70% since 2015”. In response, policing minister Chris Philp MP said that “violent crime is down by 51% since 2010”, quoting Crime Survey data.
When looking at knife crime however the numbers used by Mr Philp are less useful. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says:
"Police recorded crime provides a better measure than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) of higher-harm but less common types of violence, such as those involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime)."
The most recent data covering the year to September 2023 shows an 80% increase in police recorded serious knife crime offences since 2015. However the ONS advise caution when using these figures for comparison purposes as there have been various changes in how offences have been categorised.
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** Are you inhaling a credit card’s worth of microplastics every week? ([link removed])
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A video from BBC Reel, a commercial organisation owned by the BBC, and an article on BBC Future claimed that people inhale a credit card’s worth of microplastic every week.
This is a common claim we’ve seen repeated online, but is not true.
People probably inhale some microplastic, but all of the studies we’ve seen suggest it’s much less than the mass of a credit card each week.
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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* National Insurance contributions don’t determine how much is spent on health and welfare ([link removed])
* The NHS Test and Trace app was not the third most expensive project in history ([link removed])
* Buckingham Palace is subject to council tax and business rates ([link removed])
Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
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Team Full Fact
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