To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on public sector off-payroll reforms of locum health workers responding to covid-19.

In April 2017, the Government changed the off-payroll working rules for those working in the public sector, shifting responsibility for determining employment status from the worker’s own limited company to the organisation they work for. These existing rules continue to apply.

On 17 March 2020, the Government announced that the reform to the off-payroll working rules that would have applied for people contracting their services to large or medium-sized organisations outside the public sector, as well as engagers in the public sector, will be delayed for one year from 6 April 2020 until 6 April 2021.

This is part of the additional support for businesses and individuals to deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19. This means that the different rules that exist for inside and outside the public sector will continue to apply until 6 April 2021.

The Government remains committed to this policy to ensure that people working like employees, but through their own limited company, pay broadly the same tax as individuals who are employed directly.