Tackling non-compliance in the umbrella company market

• Following the publication of a consultation in June 2023, HMRC have published a policy paper that states they will publish a response to the consultation in due course
• HMRC will publish new guidance later this year, including a tool to assist umbrella company employees/workers to check whether correct deductions are being made from their pay
• The policy paper also says Government is “minded to” introduce a statutory due diligence regime, however it needs to engage with the recruitment industry and key stakeholders to ensure it has a full understanding to best reduce non-compliance

See HMRC’s policy paper here.  

Aspire comment

Regulating umbrella companies remains on Government’s “to do list” as it has been since the Good Work Plan was published in 2018. It is fair to say that we were expecting much more from this update – perhaps the responses to the June 2023 consultation to say the least.

It looks like we can expect more worker guidance in the near future - however we already have this sort of guidance – see here – whilst any statutory due diligence regime doesn’t seem likely to come into fruition any time soon.