Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to prevent false self-employment.

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Employment Status and Intermediaries Team focuses on employment status and employment intermediary risks. Where companies are believed to have misclassified individuals as self-employed, HMRC establishes the facts of the case and will take steps to ensure that all the appropriate tax, National Insurance contributions, interest and penalties are paid.

In addition, the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2016 that, following consultation, it would reforms the intermediaries legislation (commonly known as IR35) to improve the compliance of those working off-payroll through Personal Service Companies in the public sector.