Vaneeta Khurana, head of employment tax at Mazars, examines the government's plans to review employment status in response to the Taylor Review in a bid to address the challenges of the changing world of work, but warns of potential for further complexity over tax rules, particularly for off payroll working
The Chancellor’s speech at Budget 2017 focused on one prominent theme; the UK’s continual struggle to match the productivity of similar economies across the world, supported by gloomy projections for an uptick in performance in the medium term. A number of measures were announced to get more people into work and spur a rise in wage growth in the UK, including the government’s response to Matthew Taylor’s Review of Modern Working Practices.
The government has now issued its response in the Good Work report and announced a range of actions and consultations to protect workers’ rights, transparency in the business environment and ensure workers are paid fairly.
It is hoped that the recommendations from these consultations will be acted upon relatively quickly, delivering a more efficient and transparent working environment for both business and their workers. However, given the extended timeline for responses, it seems unlikely that any changes will be introduced until April 2019 at the earliest, although it is not unheard of for the government to fast-track important changes.
