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The outsourcing companies Serco and G4S have ordered the recruitment agencies that they rely on to provide workers for the NHS test-and-trace system to clean up their supply chains, after a Guardian investigation prompted concerns over tax dodging.
Serco confirmed it had passed information on some of its suppliers to HM Revenue and Customs, after evidence emerged that agency staff were being paid via controversial “mini-umbrella companies” (MUCs), which are often used to fraudulently dodge national insurance contributions.
The UK government relies on a complicated network of private companies to carry out its pandemic response work, although the system is labelled as NHS test and trace. The Guardian found evidence of MUCs across the system, from mobile testing units to contact tracing call centres, to laboratories testing samples.
Experts believe MUCs are only one aspect of a broader problem with umbrella companies, which employ and handle payment for agency workers. The annual costs of unscrupulous umbrella companies to workers and the exchequer may be as high as £4.5bn through tax fraud and other issues such as withheld holiday pay.
www.theguardian.com
Serco confirmed it had passed information on some of its suppliers to HM Revenue and Customs, after evidence emerged that agency staff were being paid via controversial “mini-umbrella companies” (MUCs), which are often used to fraudulently dodge national insurance contributions.
The UK government relies on a complicated network of private companies to carry out its pandemic response work, although the system is labelled as NHS test and trace. The Guardian found evidence of MUCs across the system, from mobile testing units to contact tracing call centres, to laboratories testing samples.
Experts believe MUCs are only one aspect of a broader problem with umbrella companies, which employ and handle payment for agency workers. The annual costs of unscrupulous umbrella companies to workers and the exchequer may be as high as £4.5bn through tax fraud and other issues such as withheld holiday pay.
Serco and G4S order NHS test-and-trace suppliers to clean up act on tax
Move follows Guardian revelations of mini-umbrella companies dodging national insurance payments
www.theguardian.com
