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<p>Information regarding the total cost of off-payroll workers broken down by individual government departments and their arm’s length bodies is not held centrally.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Departmental spending on consultancy, which is one element of total spending on off-payroll workers, is collected by the Cabinet Office. Consultancy spending has reduced by almost three quarters over this Parliament, from £1.2 billion in 2009-10 to £316 million in 2013-14. This followed work to simplify and strengthen the management of consultancy expenditure across government.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Off-payroll workers play an important role in helping public sector organisations meet short term needs for specialist advice and interim services.</p><p> </p><p>It is essential that government employers are able to assure themselves that their higher paid contract workers and most senior staff are meeting their tax obligations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>New tighter rules governing ‘off-payroll’ appointments in central government were established in May 2012 when I, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, published the Review of the Tax Arrangements of Public Sector Appointees.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The recommendations of the Review mean that the most senior staff must go on the payroll, and departments are now able to seek assurance in relation to the tax arrangements of their long-term, high paid contractors.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Treasury carried out an evaluation of compliance with the rules which was published on 11 March 2014. This revealed that departments sought assurance on the tax affairs of 1,940 of their contractors, and 125 contracts were terminated or ended and were referred to HMRC for further investigation as a result of these rules. The Treasury has also issued £1.5 million in fines in 2014 to a small number of departments who did not fully comply with the requirements of the guidance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> |