Never have I heard so many rumours and different takes on what the potential changes to Travel and Subsistence T&S will create to our extensive UK wide contract and freelance temporary workforce. I’ve seen ridiculous Non Disclosure Agreements being requested before information is shared, which really tickles me. Like these providers ‘know’ what the future holds. All we can do is support our clients and be united in the inevitable decision made regarding how, why and if travel and subsistence will be revoked or altered. This is after all not entirely exhaustive to all temporary workers, but yes, it will affect a large proportion of our country’s backbone of our now stable economy.
Some providers are merely washing their hands of their duties as a genuine outsourced payroll provider by suggesting they will work around the required and important over-arching contract and into a much less secure arrangement involving zero hours contracts or even no contract at all. Under this arrangement, the umbrella company would merely act as a glorified payroll bureau.
Please be careful as to what you believe. We all know Halloween was the time for spooky shenanigans, but don’t be fooled by a route to which may hang your workers out to dry.
Over-arching contracts were originally used by umbrella companies to create continuous employment and thereby ensure that their employees would be working on a series of temporary assignments, which would entitle them to tax relief on the travel and subsistence costs. Now that HMRC is planning to base entitlement on whether or not the worker is under the supervision, direction or control (or right thereof) of the end client (and anyone else), some umbrella companies may think that there is little point in maintaining over-arching employment contracts and the costs associated with them.
If the T&S legislation goes through as it has been proposed, then contractor pay rates will definitely go up, assuming UK PLC wants to maintain a truly flexible workforce. Supply and demand dictates that, as long as contractors are needed, recruiters will supply them to end clients; the price going up doesn’t mean that the client will suddenly decide that they need a permanent worker for the role. What’s more, it will not take long for someone with half a brain within the Houses to realise that by removing these simple pleasures for a temps, it will result in end client costs to increase slightly to bridge to shortfall. As the Government/public sector are one of the UK’s largest beneficiaries of temporary contract workers, it’s here where it will hit them the hardest. It would seem they will be robbing Peter, to pay Peter….
Andrew Johnston – ePayMe CEO