Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee to hear evidence on off-payroll working

This evidence session will be streamed live on Parliament TV.

At 4.15pm the Sub-Committee will take evidence from:

• Andrew Chamberlain, Director of Policy, Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed
• Phil Pluck, Chief Executive, Freelancer and Contractor Services Association
• Martin McTague, Policy and Advocacy Vice-Chair, Federation of Small Businesses.

At 5.15pm the Sub-Committee will take evidence from:

• Meredith McCammond, Technical Officer, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group
• Colin Ben-Nathan, Chair of the Employment Taxes Committee, Chartered Institute of Taxation
• Alice Jeffries, Lead Tax Advisor, Confederation of British Industry
• Stephen Ratcliffe, Member of the Legislative and Policy Committee at the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA)

Topics the Sub-Committee is likely to cover in these sessions include:

• The number of contractors affected by the new off-payroll working rules.
• How the off-payroll working rules have operated in the first eight months they have applied to the private sector.
• Effectiveness of CEST as an aid to determining the status of contractors for off-payroll working purposes.
• Effect the off-payroll working rules have had on the way engagers recruit contractors and on the rates contractors are paid, gross and net of any deductions.
• How well the implementation of the off-payroll working rules has gone for businesses.
• Challenges faced by businesses in applying the off-payroll working rules to their contractors.
• Compliance activity carried out by HMRC to check how engagers are applying the rules.

This is a follow-up inquiry to the Sub-Committee’s April 2020 report, ‘Off-payroll working: treating people fairly’, on the Government's proposals for moving responsibility for assessing compliance with its off-payroll working rules (IR35) from contractors to those who engage them.