Are we making a difference? Yes, we are.
Following a meeting between Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster General and some Institutions, it was reported that she said that "she was convinced there was a degree of abuse and the Government had to tackle it.", "She had not yet made up her mind how she would tackle the issue.", "She would continue to meet with representative bodies and, hold further consultations, once her mind was made up."
That represents a substantial change in the Government's stance. Previous statements, mainly by the Revenue, indicated that the method was established, how to implement was the only question. All the letters you have written to your MP are working.
The Government clearly thought that ir35 would go through with little or no opposition. How wrong they were. We saw further evidence of that this week.
The Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill has now been in committee in The House of Lords for some three weeks.
On Tuesday 20th July they reached the all important part of the Bill, Clause 70; the section which would require class one NI to be paid by those workers supplied by service companies.
Briefing documents and speaking notes were provided by PCG. Lord Weatherill, our Patron, asked the Earl of Kintore to speak for us, speaking notes were provided by Gareth Williams (once again many thanks) and a personal briefing was given by Susie Hughes and myself.
The Government, clearly concerned about the issue, did not allow The Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Hollis to handle the debate, but parachuted in, The Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords, Lord McIntosh of Haringey.
Peers would take the appearance of the Deputy Chief Whip as a sign of how much importance the Government was attaching to this section.
There is one important statement at column 927 in Hansard.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey
"We have to remove the avoidance. But the mechanics of how we remove the avoidance are not set in stone. If there is an alternative approach which business believes is more sympathetic and yet delivers our policy, we will consider it sympathetically"
This suggests that there is still much to play for.
Previous to the above quote, Lord McIntosh said at column 924
"There are many important issues, particularly those identified by the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, on which we have a great responsibility to respond to consultation and to report that response to the House before we come back on report. I am not making any promises, but there may be modifications to Clause 70 as a result."
Finally, Lord McIntosh offered to call a meeting in the Parliamentary recess to discuss with interested parties the responses the Government intended following the consultations currently taking place.
As a result clause 70 and 71 were nodded through.This is nothing more than part of the parliamentary process, no doors have yet been closed. There is still report stage when the House can be expected to divide on a number of issues.
Members should be aware that, even allowing for the phraseology used in the House of Lords, some impressive concessions have been made.
At the PCG meeting in Aberdeen, Sir Robert Smith MP confirmed that, he at least, welcomes letters on the subject. Letters gave him the bullets to fire at the Government.
In your next letter, why not compare the tax you pay to the 11% tax paid by EDS, as a proportion of their turnover (this figure is taken from an analysis of their accounts). Also, you could welcome the comment made by Lord McIntosh of Haringey that the figures of 60,000 businesses shown to be affected in the RIA is wrong.
It is not a moot point to stress, again, in your letter that you are a genuine company and you look to the Government to help you stay that way.
Letters can be sent to, as before, your local Member of Parliament, to Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General), to Lord McIntosh of Haringey (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords), to the Rt Hon Alastair Darling MP (the Secretary of State for Social Security)
Parliament is now going on holiday from Tuesday 27th July until Monday 18th October. I am away until 20th August so will be unavailable until after that date.
Remember, three months ago no one had heard much about IR 35, now barely a day goes by but one paper or the other carries a story. This is largely down to you and to Susie. Keep up the pressure, we are making a difference
David Ramsden
Campaign Director
david.ramsden@ir35update.co.uk
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