News

Accreditation scheme For some months there has been speculation that an accreditation scheme, whereby HMRC will exclude certain organisations that are accredited from the scope of the MSC legislation, is under consideration by HMRC. Whilst this may be in the interests of those organisations that operate as centralised “accountancy” service providers  to workers provided via […]

HMRC issues further guidance in relation to the MSC legislation As part of its ongoing monitoring of events related to the MSC legislation HMRC has identified areas where it feels additional clarification would be required, in particular to address certain misleading information. This further guidance can be found at https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ It is important to note […]

Following the publication of the draft Finance Bill in March 07 there has been considerable speculation concerning the meaning of some of the definitions. In particular, the section that excludes organisations that provide accountancy and legal advice allows interpretation that facilitates the suggestion that some service providers to contractors can continue as usual. Does it […]

Aside from the increases in beer, wine, cigarettes and duty on most polluting cars, the second most important issue for you will obviously be the MSC legislation update. The Government has confirmed that legislation will be introduced to achieve the objectives set out in the consultation document. But it is responding to key concerns raised […]

Following the consultation announced on 6th December 2006 “Tackling Managed Service Companies”, the government has now published its first draft of the threatened third-party liability provisions, making third parties liable for the tax debts of an MSC. This again is within a consultation to which responses are required by 30th April.  The consultation is limited […]

On 17th January Adrian Marlowe and David Vincent of Lawspeed met with six representatives of the Treasury to discuss the proposed new MSC legislation. During a meeting lasting nearly two hours a number of key points emerged, and the following represents our understanding: HMRC does not intend to legislate against genuine umbrella companies that employ […]

Note 25th June 2010 – As can be seen from the article below HMRC started a review of the concession in July 2006. In April 2008 it was announced that the concession would be withdrawn after 1 year, and on 1st April 2009 the concession ended. The concession was particularly useful for public sector organisations, […]

Government announces consultation on the increase of paid holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations to include public and bank holidays. The DTI has announced a consultation on extending the current right for all workers to 20 days’ paid leave each year by a further 8 days to reflect bank and public holidays “UK Holidays”). If […]

It is a finance directors role, amongst other things, to find ways of reducing overhead. Costs actually saved without affecting performance is the ideal. Attributing costs to one type of overhead instead of another can also have benefits, allowing budgetary targets to be met. Traditionally one method for larger organisations to reduce and/or reallocate cost […]

Less than 4 weeks after the Court of Appeal’s decision on Cable & Wireless v Muscat, that a contract of employment can be implied between an agency worker and an end user, the Government announce that there is no need for further legislation on employment rights for agency workers. The timing of the announcement could […]

Those hirers using agency workers / contractors / interims will know that 2 years ago the Court of Appeal (in Dacas -v- Brook Street Bureau) stated that an agency worker could be the employee of the end user to which he/she is supplied. This despite the worker being signed on a contract for services and […]

The issue of the employment status of an agency worker has been one on which there has been a flurry of judicial activity over the past two years. The recent trend in court decisions has been to find that there has been an implied contract of employment between the agency worker and the end user […]

The issue of employment status is rapidly becoming a minefield for recruitment agencies and their clients.  Failure to keep up to speed with the constantly changing legal position can prove very costly. In Cable & Wireless v Muscat, for example, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that an agency worker was an employee of the end user, […]

Following the case of Dacas -v- Brook Street Bureau last year the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld a decision of an Employment Tribunal that an agency worker, operating through a personal services company, is the employee of the end user. In Dacas there was relief in the recruitment community that the agency Brook Street […]