With the proposal to put contractors onto the payroll in the public sector as part of HMRC’s new intermediaries legislation for April 2017, many agencies, end-hirers and contractors are fighting against these changes.
Latest data from the Freelancer & Contractor Services Association (FCSA) has found that 37% of intermediaries who source (and/or support) contractors for public sector roles believe that end-hirers will seek to place their freelancers on agency payrolls, with 23% also suggesting that hirers who source contractors directly will most likely seek to place them on their own payroll as temporary workers.
The poll also revealed that 34% of intermediaries reported that contractors will not accept being payrolled, with 38% stating that individuals will not accept fixed-term contracts, as they do not want to be employed by the end-hirer.
Twenty-nine per cent are aware that contractors will be actively looking for work outside the public sector as a consequence of the proposed changes.
Julia Kermode, chief executive of FCSA, said, “Our research has revealed a mismatch in thinking between contractors’ intentions and the options being considered by agencies and public sector hirers. Contractors are simply not going to accept fixed-term contracts or being put on the payroll as temporary workers. We are already seeing contractors not accepting public sector contracts beyond April 2017 due to the proposed changes. They are shunning false “employment” engagement mechanisms which contradict the reality – that the hirers’ needs are contingent so contractors’ skills are sought on an as needs basis, therefore employment is a nonsensical solution.
“The Government seems intent on forcing the entire workforce to be employed which is an incredibly outdated stance and a real concern given the UK’s reliance on the flexible workforce to support the UK economy and we strongly urge Ms May and her policy team to ditch these proposals now. Not only are they impossible to implement but, based on this evidence, will starve them of the very skills they need, and never more so than now as contractors will be key in helping to manage the UK’s exit from the EU.”
She added, “Beyond the private sector is a physical and virtual global world of work that is hungry for the skills that the UK public sector has access to and Government ignores this at their peril. It is unthinkable that it might be prepared to jeopardise losing this essential workforce. It is a no win situation in an already stretched public sector that relies on temporary workers and I hope that policymakers will listen to our concerns.”
Daniele Cantello is an Contract Manager for Contractor Umbrella Ltd, one of the UK’s Most Respected Umbrella Companies. Learn more about Daniele on Google.
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