Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that umbrella companies operating in the UK temporary labour market are adequately transparent about (a) workers' pay, (b) wage deductions and (c) statutory entitlements.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I refer the hon. Member for Cheadle to the answer of 1 May 2025 to Questions 47914 and 47915.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that umbrella companies correctly (a) deduct and (b) remit (i) Income Tax and (ii) National Insurance contributions on behalf of temporary workers.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I refer the hon. Member for Cheadle to the answer of 1 May 2025 to Questions 47914 and 47915.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that umbrella companies in the temporary labour market comply with tax legislation on (a) the proper (i) deduction and (ii) reporting of (A) income tax and (B) National Insurance contributions for temporary workers and (b) other matters.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to closing the tax gap and making the tax system fairer by ensuring temporary workers are protected from large, unexpected tax bills caused by unscrupulous behaviour from non-compliant umbrella companies. That is why the Chancellor announced in her Autumn Budget that the Government will introduce legislation to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for Pay As You Earn on workers’ pay.
The Government set out the expected Exchequer impacts of this measure at the Budget. The Government will publish a full Tax Impact and Information Note later this year.
HMRC recently launched a comprehensive guidance tool, ‘work out pay from an umbrella company’, that agencies and umbrella company workers can use to better understand umbrella company pay and ensure tax compliance. The tool automatically flags discrepancies between submitted payslip information and calculated estimates that could indicate hidden deductions or tax avoidance.
Earlier this month, HMRC published guidance with examples of how umbrella companies can demonstrate good practice. This guidance aims to raise standards across the umbrella company sector, creating a fairer market and helping workers and businesses understand what good practice looks like. This guidance can be found online at www.gov.uk/guidance/examples-of-good-practice-for-umbrella-companies-in-the-temporary-labour-market.
The measures in the Employment Rights Bill will bring the activities of umbrella companies in scope for future regulation to ensure individuals working through them can access the rights they are legally entitled to and can receive greater transparency in the terms of their employment.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to take steps to help (a) improve transparency within the umbrella company sector and (b) ensure workers are not subject to (i) excessive fees and (ii) improper tax arrangements.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to closing the tax gap and making the tax system fairer by ensuring temporary workers are protected from large, unexpected tax bills caused by unscrupulous behaviour from non-compliant umbrella companies. That is why the Chancellor announced in her Autumn Budget that the Government will introduce legislation to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for Pay As You Earn on workers’ pay.
The Government set out the expected Exchequer impacts of this measure at the Budget. The Government will publish a full Tax Impact and Information Note later this year.
HMRC recently launched a comprehensive guidance tool, ‘work out pay from an umbrella company’, that agencies and umbrella company workers can use to better understand umbrella company pay and ensure tax compliance. The tool automatically flags discrepancies between submitted payslip information and calculated estimates that could indicate hidden deductions or tax avoidance.
Earlier this month, HMRC published guidance with examples of how umbrella companies can demonstrate good practice. This guidance aims to raise standards across the umbrella company sector, creating a fairer market and helping workers and businesses understand what good practice looks like. This guidance can be found online at www.gov.uk/guidance/examples-of-good-practice-for-umbrella-companies-in-the-temporary-labour-market.
The measures in the Employment Rights Bill will bring the activities of umbrella companies in scope for future regulation to ensure individuals working through them can access the rights they are legally entitled to and can receive greater transparency in the terms of their employment.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times the Valuation Office Agency has refused a request to change the council tax banding of a flat where the resident has compared their home to a lower council tax banded house of greater value, in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Valuation Office Agency does not centrally aggregate and record the data in the form requested.
When assessing a home for Council Tax banding purposes, the VOA will refer to relevant sales of comparable properties, look at the bands of other comparable properties in the locality and, when appropriate, consider any Valuation Tribunal decisions made on similar properties.
If there are very few comparable properties in the immediate locality, the VOA will consider comparable properties from a wider area, or properties which are similar in character but have some differences.
More information on how the VOA values and bands domestic properties can be found in the Council Tax manual which is published on GOV.UK. Statistics on Council Tax challenges and changes made to the England and Wales Council Tax valuation lists are published annually and can also be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how often the Valuation Office Agency compared different types of properties in order to assess a request from a resident to change a council tax banding in each of the last five years; and on how many occasions there were no similar properties to compare.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Valuation Office Agency does not centrally aggregate and record the data in the form requested.
When assessing a home for Council Tax banding purposes, the VOA will refer to relevant sales of comparable properties, look at the bands of other comparable properties in the locality and, when appropriate, consider any Valuation Tribunal decisions made on similar properties.
If there are very few comparable properties in the immediate locality, the VOA will consider comparable properties from a wider area, or properties which are similar in character but have some differences.
More information on how the VOA values and bands domestic properties can be found in the Council Tax manual which is published on GOV.UK. Statistics on Council Tax challenges and changes made to the England and Wales Council Tax valuation lists are published annually and can also be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employers National Insurance contributions on sole directors of limited companies who pay employers National Insurance.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
Estimates of the number of sole director companies liable to pay employer National Insurance contributions are not available.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the number of limited companies where the only employee is the director who pays employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
Estimates of the number of sole director companies liable to pay employer National Insurance contributions are not available.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of how much tax relief oil producers will receive for the development of the Rosebank oil field via the North Sea Investment Allowance; and what steps she is taking to ensure this funding scheme aligns with the Government's net-zero commitments.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government’s fiscal approach in relation to the upstream oil and gas sector balances attracting investment with ensuring a fair return for the nation in exchange for the use of its resources. In last year’s Autumn Budget, the government increased the duration and rate of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL), a temporary additional tax on upstream oil and gas profits. The government also abolished an investment allowance in the EPL regime which was unique to oil and gas and not available to any other sector. These changes are expected to raise £2.3bn which will help support the transition to clean energy, enhance energy security and independence, and provide sustainable jobs for the future.
The regime includes several tax reliefs and allowances, including in relation to investments which reduce domestic production emissions to support the sector’s transition to net zero.
Whilst it would not be appropriate for the government to comment on the tax affairs of individual companies, estimates of tax revenues and the cost of tax reliefs are publicly available from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the government respectively.
The OBR’s most recent forecast of tax revenues from the oil and gas sector is available at the following link: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/. Similarly, where data is available, estimates of the cost of tax reliefs applicable to the oil and gas sector are at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-relief-statistics.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the number of sole employer self-employed people that may face increased national insurance payments in the next 12 months.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The self-employed do not pay Employer NICs unless they hire employees to work for them. Sole traders who are registered as self-employed will therefore not be paying ER NICs, and therefore not be affected by the changes coming into effect from April 2025.