HMRC responds to Frank Field regarding delivery sector employment

Frank Field, the chairman of the House of Commons work and pensions select committee, has said that HMRC has responded to his inquiries about employment practices at Hermes. As previously reported, Field had forwarded HMRC information which he claimed provided evidence of low pay at the delivery company.

In a statement posted on his website today (20 October), Field said that the Executive Chairman of HMRC, Edward Troup, has written to say that the information has been “referred to the appropriate compliance teams for consideration”.

Troup added: “It is possible to be self-employed for tax purposes, but still be classed as a worker for the national minimum wage.”

Field also reported he has received a letter from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Ellison MP, confirming that HMRC is “transforming its compliance approach with the creation of a new Employment Status and Intermediaries Team to focus on status and employment intermediary risks”.

Commenting on these two developments, Field said: “The Prime Minister has set companies the task of delivering a decent minimum for their workers, and companies now know they will be caught out if they jeopardise this effort.”

Copies of the letters to Field from HMRC and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury can be found here and here.

As previously reported by Post&Parcel, Hermes has stated that it had received confirmation from HMRC that it was right to classify its couriers as self-employed, and it has also emphasised that it is “committed to ensuring that our couriers receive earnings that are equivalent or higher than the national living wage”.