Trade association responds to employment status consultation

Responding to the newly published consultation on employment status, Shazia Imtiaz, General Counsel at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), comments:

Any clarity around employment status, rights and tax is certainly welcome. The changing nature of the temporary and contingent markets, coupled with the roll out of IR35, have led to a wealth of complexities around compliance for the flexible segment of the workforce, and this guidance certainly assists to provide the clarification that was needed. However, the response to the consultation is missing the legislative changes that we had hoped for. In particular, under the 2018 Good Work Plan it was proposed that legislative amendments would be implemented to improve the clarity of employment status tests. Changes to better align the frameworks for employment status rights and tax were also missing and we are still keen to work with the Government to see these changes come forward.

The clarification guidance is a step in the right direction at a time when we are moving on from the pandemic, but it is our hope that more recommendations from the Good Work Plan are actioned in the near future.