Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of lost revenue resulting from incorrect classification of individuals as self employed in each of the last three years.

The government has not produced an estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of lost revenue as a result of false self-employment.

The Chancellor, in a response to a question from the Shadow Chancellor during the Budget debate on 15 March 2017, said he recognised ‘that there is a problem of bogus self-employment. There is a problem of employers who are refusing to employ people, requiring them to be “self-employed”. There is a problem of individuals being advised by high street accountants that they can save tax by restructuring the way they work. We do believe that people should have choices, and we do believe that there should be a diversity of ways of working in the economy—we just do not believe that that should be driven by unfair tax advantages.’

HM Revenue and Customs is aware that false self-employment presents a risk and is deploying compliance resources to address that risk. It will take appropriate action where false self-employment is identified.