Umbrella regulation draws a step nearer
Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, issued a written ministerial statement yesterday announcing a consultation on policy options to regulate umbrella companies and to tackle non-compliance in the market. This is amongst other objectives to ‘simplify’ and ‘modernise’ the tax system, with the intention to make the system fairer for taxpayers, work better for traders and challenge non-compliance.
This announcement builds from the mandate the government issued in autumn 2022, ‘to put tax simplification at the heart of policy making’, which was extended further by ‘first steps’ announced in the spring budget.
The details of the proposal and date of the consultation have yet to be announced, but the statement is very clear that options are to be outlined. The consultation follows a joint Call for evidence in 2021 by BEIS (now DBT), HMRC and HM Treasury, the responses to which are also due for publication.
Lawspeed welcomes the announcement and hopes that the regulatory approach taken will offer agencies greater certainty and confidence in the use of umbrella providers, so will await the detail of what is proposed, providing updates as and when they are available. In the ever-changing world of compliance, you can rely on Lawspeed’s recruitment law expertise to guide you through any updates and changes.
For more information on working with umbrella companies, you can access a webinar recording on this topic here. You can also contact us for more information.
Theresa Mimnagh, Director LLB qualified as a solicitor* in February 2004 and previously worked in private practice as an employment lawyer. She joined Lawspeed in 2005 and leads Lawspeed’s client support and audit team.
Her specialisations are in employment law, recruitment law, employment status, IR35 and agency tax, data protection (GDPR), and employment contracts and policies. She leads our team of IR35 lawyers and is responsible for updating our contracts under our contract maintenance scheme. She also heads the employment law team and excels in supporting clients in employment related disputes.
Theresa also is our lead in training on key areas relevant to employment business, including IR35 and recruitment process, and was responsible for delivery of our 2019 programme of IR35 masterclasses and 2023 webinar series.