Clause 5 - Recovery of contributions, etc: Great Britain
National Insurance Contributions and Statutory Payments Bill
11:00 am
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)
I welcome the Paymaster General's opening remarks on the clause and on clause 6, which, as she said, in so many ways mirrors it.
The clauses relate to the outstanding differences in certain rules between tax collection and the recovery of national insurance and, in particular, to class 2 contributions, which are particularly pertinent—indeed, pertinent only—to the self-employed. The misalignment of rules relates to the recovery of outstanding contributions. This is where we get into the discussion about debt, distraining and so on. Opposition Members believe that it is logical to align the two different notice periods—30 days and seven, and 14 for Scotland. Business would then have to deal with only a single procedure for all outstanding contributions. It is perhaps worth putting it on the record that, in making that decision, the Government have diminished the rights of the self-employed, but I share the analysis that I think the Paymaster General expounded on Second Reading—on balance, it is probably a reasonable change to make. Therefore, we do not oppose it.
The Paymaster General said that the Government do not intend to amend the appeals procedure. I was looking through the explanatory notes to try to
understand how the system will work from now on. They say that the Inland Revenue has a standard debt collection procedure and that one must work through a series of stages to recover debt. However, the notes fail to set out how the procedure works and how it will work when the Bill is enacted. Therefore, coming at the matter from a business point of view, I want to understand what steps those whom the Bill will affect must take.
I am concerned with real businesses, but I shall take a hypothetical one—West Bromwich Bloggers Ltd.—so that we can understand how the Bill will affect businesses in practice. Although it is unlikely that the proprietor would find himself in that situation, what would happen if he did? How would he recover the debt and what steps would the business go through? In particular, how would the procedure work if there was a sister business—the West Lothian Wanderers club, perhaps—because, under clause 5(2), the procedures are slightly different in Scotland? I would be grateful if the Paymaster General clarified that.