National Insurance Contributions Bill flawed, REC tells committee
21 October 2014
The National Insurance Contributions Bill, which aims to restrict false self-employment, could have unintended consequences, the chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has said.
Tue, 21 Oct 2014The National Insurance Contributions Bill, which aims to restrict false self-employment, could have unintended consequences, the chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has said.
Kevin Green spoke to Recruiter this morning, shortly after giving evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee that is considering the Government's National Insurance Contributions Bill.
He said a big issue with the bill is that it will not effectively tackle false self-employment and might actually make it worse.
The way the bill has been written, he said, puts the onus on the intermediary in the supply chain – the payroll company, for example – to ensure all is above board. “This legislation only tackles the payroll company and makes it totally accountable, while it ignores the company [end employer] and the worker.”
Green called for the bill to ensure each level of the supply chain was equally accountable. “If [it’s] going to just pick on one level, [we’re] going to get a very, very distorted labour market and have more self-employment”.
He said a Chartered Institute of Taxation representative, who gave evidence at the same time, had said bogus self-employment was worth more than £2bn in lost revenue to the government.
Green added that implementation of the bill, which is intended to be backdated to April this year, should be delayed, to avoid potential fines for some recruitment companies.
The Committee will further consider the bill this afternoon and on Thursday 23 and Tuesday 28 October.
Kevin Green spoke to Recruiter this morning, shortly after giving evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee that is considering the Government's National Insurance Contributions Bill.
He said a big issue with the bill is that it will not effectively tackle false self-employment and might actually make it worse.
The way the bill has been written, he said, puts the onus on the intermediary in the supply chain – the payroll company, for example – to ensure all is above board. “This legislation only tackles the payroll company and makes it totally accountable, while it ignores the company [end employer] and the worker.”
Green called for the bill to ensure each level of the supply chain was equally accountable. “If [it’s] going to just pick on one level, [we’re] going to get a very, very distorted labour market and have more self-employment”.
He said a Chartered Institute of Taxation representative, who gave evidence at the same time, had said bogus self-employment was worth more than £2bn in lost revenue to the government.
Green added that implementation of the bill, which is intended to be backdated to April this year, should be delayed, to avoid potential fines for some recruitment companies.
The Committee will further consider the bill this afternoon and on Thursday 23 and Tuesday 28 October.
