The JIB has submitted a response to the Finance Bill Sub-Committee as part of a short follow-up inquiry into the implementation of the off-payroll rules in the private sector, and how these rules are working in practice.
In April 2020, the Sub-Committee published a report, Off-payroll working: treating people fairly, on the Government's proposals for moving responsibility for assessing compliance with its off-payroll working rules (IR35) from contractors to those who engage them.
The JIB’s response has been framed around the benefits of Direct Employment and Professor Howard Gospel’s report, Direct Employment - A study of Economic, Business and Social Outcomes. The report highlights the negative impact which the steady growth in non-direct, off-payroll working is having on the UK electrical contracting and construction industries.
It also highlights that whilst individuals working off-payroll remain a necessary feature of electrical contracting (and other parts of the construction industry), the balance has been allowed to tip too far away from direct employment. It indicates that if the industry’s and the Government’s priorities for this and future decades are to be achieved – for example, in skills, safety, quality, efficiency and innovation – then a healthier, more sustainable balance needs to be restored.
Progress of the inquiry may be followed here.