Belfast Roundtable Invitation - Government Employment Status Consultation

Event Information

Location: Department for the Economy,  Adelaide House 39-49 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8FD
Date: 30^th May 2018
Time: 14.00

The UK Government is currently running a consultation on employment status as part of its  response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/employment-status). The consultation is open until 1st June. This is a joint consultation authored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), HM Treasury (HMT), and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and considers employment status for both rights and tax.  

Employment status determines the rights an individual is entitled to and the level of tax they and the businesses they work for are required to pay. The Taylor Review concluded that the current framework can lack the level of clarity and certainty that individuals and businesses need – particularly regarding those working in non-standard forms of employment or as part of the emerging gig economy.  

The UK Government wants to ensure that as part of the consultation it engages with, and seeks views from a wide range of stakeholders, and as such would like to invite you to attend this event in Belfast to discuss and share your views and experience on status in relation to questions being asked in the current consultation. This will be in an open and non-judgemental forum with officials from HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Department for Economy.

The UK Government recognises that employment law is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive and, therefore, the parts of the consultation that impact employment rights will be out of scope for this event and instead the event will focus solely on the tax aspects of the consultation.] With this in mind, please come prepared to discuss:

• Your experience of employment status – do you understand what the difference is between the different employment status categories, what issues does it raise for your business or sector, what issues have you come across?
• The current framework – are the tests or characteristics the courts use to determine employment status still relevant? What do you think the key factors or characteristics should be to determine whether an individual is an employee?
• The use of legislation to improve clarity – would legislative change be helpful to achieve clarity on employment status? Would it be helpful to legislate the main employment status principles or is more detail needed in legislation?
• Alternative approaches – would an alternative test or more objective criteria to determine employment status improve clarity? What benefits or consequences could this have?
• Alignment – should the employment status frameworks for tax (two-tier system) be better aligned with the current employment rights framework, and if so how?

If you would like to book your place at the event please email Margaret.wilson@economy-ni.gov.uk by 25 May.