The government has confirmed it will not be bringing forward proposals to align the employment status frameworks for tax and employment rights. That’s notwithstanding a host of significant benefits that alignment would bring.

The government’s position was made clear in response to its consultation on employment status which dates back to February 2018. They say it is not the ‘right time’ to overhaul the employment status frameworks for rights and for tax in the context of economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It means that in some instances an individual holds the status of self-employed for tax, but not for employment rights – not ideal.

Writing for Out-Law, tax specialist Penny Simmons said she wasn’t surprised by the announcement. She said: ‘There seems to be an attitude that reforming the rules and finding a workable solution is just too difficult at the moment and so should be shelved indefinitely.’

It means those difficulties will continue to be left to employers to grapple with, and it’s not easy. Chris Thomas is one of the lawyers in our tax team who has been advising clients on this in recent times and he joined me by phone to discuss it. I started by asking Chris what he made of the government’s announcement:

Chris Thomas: “To put it politely it's very disappointing. It has taken them four years to come up with a response that says pretty much nothing really of any value at all, certainly from the tax perspective, and I think not really from the...