Treasury, HMRC and BEIS have just published a Call for Evidence on Umbrellas. It forms part of their commitment to bring umbrellas into scope for labour market enforcement, and they want to hear from all stakeholders. Importantly they particularly want to hear from workers who have been engaged via an umbrella, so this is your chance to directly influence the shape of future regulation of the sector.
Plans for regulating umbrellas include targeting two key issues which have been hot topics this year: payroll skimming and non-payment of holiday. The Call for Evidence also mentions joint employment and whether there is a genuine rationale for this way of operating, or if it is solely about VAT savings. Of course tax issues are on the agenda too, not least due the travesty of loan scheme victims now having unfeasibly high tax bills to pay.
Together we can help tackle these problems, but only if YOU respond to the call for evidence. There are lots of questions, but you only need to answer the ones that are relevant or those that you care about.
The umbrella sector is complicated and all the decent players in the industry are keen to see dodgy uncompliant practices stamped out once and for all. It’s likely to be a while before we see any changes in practical terms to allow time for responses to be analysed, policy established, and legislation written. However, at least things are now finally moving in the right direction.
We know that lots of people are fed up with meaningless government consultations but, here at IWORK we feel positive about this one, so strongly urge anyone with an opinion to respond to it. It’s especially important if you are an umbrella worker yourself, please don’t miss this opportunity to have your say!
