Employment tax risks, compliance and IR35 in local government

Many public sector organisations struggle with IR35 compliance, including local government entities. Recent headlines on this topic have included government bodies being found by HMRC as failing to correctly determine the correct employment tax status of their workers, and have subsequently been hit with tax and national insurance determinations of over £85 million. This is despite government bodies utilising CEST - HMRC’s own status determination tool for tax. These headlines demonstrate the minefield that off-payroll workers legislation creates for engagers, and prove that relying on CEST will not guarantee that an organisation is fully compliant. 

In July 2021 we hosted a webinar to discuss what the new changes from April 2021 mean for local authorities and also how our technological solutions are proving popular with clients across the public sector. These solutions are helping organisations to navigate the complexities of the new changes and to demonstrate that reasonable care has been taken in the event of HMRC review.

Over the last 18 months, Covid-19 has changed both our personal and working lives. Workforces within the public sector have now become used to home working arrangements. We have also seen a very evident shift in the types of benefits and working arrangements that prospective employees want, as we see a popular shift to hybrid working arrangements. During the webinar we discuss how the working world has evolved, the tax considerations for the last and future tax years, plus how employers need to reconsider their total reward packages to ensure that they are on-trend for current employee demands.

Watch the full webinar here:

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If you would like to discuss any of these topics in further detail, please get in touch.

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