Employment Status
CIPP Survey on Employment Status 30 April 2015
The CIPP Policy & Research Team have published a short survey to gather your views and experiences on Employment Status.
The survey questions look to gather views, experiences and opinions on a small number of issues raised within the OTS Employment Status Report, published in March 2015.
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) was commissioned to examine the dividing line between employment and self-employment and consider whether it is drawn in the right place and in the right way.
Their research covered a broad range of relevant areas that considered whether the current employment status tests result in real uncertainty and if so does this uncertainty extend across all sectors or are some sections of the workforce more affected. The review considered special cases, international comparisons, and the possible scope for improved services via use of digitisation and as you would expect, the current guidance and support available from Government and HMRC services. The OTS Employment Status Report was published in March 2015, it contains 181 pages, 12 chapters, and 10 annexes and provides an extensive supply of extremely useful references on the subjects of Employment and Income Tax Status.
Whilst not absolutely essential to enable you to respond to the questions in this survey , we would recommend that you have the report available, to refer to for additional information when responding to the survey questions.
The survey will close on Friday 22 May and we thank you for your time in responding to this survey.
Employment status and false self-employment 25 August 2015
Research published by Citizens Advice highlights just how important it is for employers to have a good understanding of the employment status of workers, however it is a challenging and multi- faceted area.
As the labour market and the economy evolve, it is vital that the system for self-employed people adapts and modernises. The government has made positive progress with proposals to scrap Class 2 National Insurance and to move tax returns online. Alongside this, the government should address the lack of clarity around self- employment status as a priority. Bogus self-employment occurs when workers are told they are self-employed when the legal tests would likely define them as employees. This phenomenon is made more common by the lack of consistency and clarity around the definition of self-employment: employment and tax law take different approaches. Tackling bogus self-employment will help the government by ensuring it receives the tax and National insurance it is due; it will help responsible businesses who are undercut by rivals; and it will ensure that workers get the basic protections they are legally entitled to, such as the National Minimum Wage and holiday pay. The Citizens Advice report addresses two key research gaps. First, it provides an estimate of how many people may be in bogus self-employment across the whole economy. Second, it shows the human impacts - in addition to effects on government and business - of bogus self-employment. Citizens Advice surveyed nearly 500 of their clients to understand how they work and how they perceive their employment status. They then compared this to the law and to existing evidence that their network has gathered about incidences of bogus self-employment.
The key findings are:
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 62 of 453
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