The Home Office’s 2020-21 annual report shows that the department’s implementation of the IR35 reforms were placed under review by HMRC in 2018. This investigation brought to light a ‘number of instances’ where the employment status of its contractors was incorrectly assessed.

HRMC assessed the tax and national insurance lost between 6 April 2017 and as of 31 March 2021 the loss was totalled at £29.5m. The tax authority also issued a £4m penalty after it determined the off-payroll rules had been ‘careless’.

The Home Office’s 2020-21 accounts stated that the department had a total of 216 off-payroll workers on its books as of 31 March 2021 who were earning at least £245 a day, and 90 of them had their IR35 status changed following a consistency review at some point since 1 April 2020.