02 January 2019 
Caroline Jones, Employment tax director
The government published The Good Work Plan on Monday 17 December, in response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices. In the response, a number of proposals have been made to address the issues raised by Matthew Taylor in his review.
Employment status has long been a difficult issue for HE institutions and the government is to legislate to improve the clarity of the employment status tests. This will be supported by an improvement in the on-line Check Employment Status for Tax “CEST”. Additionally, the government will seek to align both tax and employment law tests for employment status, minimising the differences between the two. Matthew Taylor’s report also highlighted that an individual can have nearly every aspect of their work controlled by a business and still be considered to be self-employed if a right for the individual to send a substitute to work in their place exists. The government has made clear that it will place more emphasis on control and less on the right of substitution in future.
Other proposals include:
Changes, which provide clarity when it comes to employment status, are welcome as are improvements to the CEST. We expect to see these changes filtering through over the coming months. Those institutions relying on substitution clauses in contracts to determine that individuals are self-employed will need to consider reviewing their contractual arrangements once new guidance/legislation is published.
