Calls for clarity and Taylor review 'to force tax rethink’, says PRISM

Government will have no choice but to remodel legal and tax frameworks for UK workers once Matthew Taylor completes his Review into Modern Employment due to “widespread” dissatisfaction with the government’s current approach to employment legislation, PRISM has predicted.

Matthew Taylor was asked to conduct a review into how the gig economy is affecting workers’ rights last November.

He is due to report back this summer. But PRISM, a trade association for service providers and payment intermediaries, said in a statement, released this morning, that it believes worker rights, benefits, employment protections, flexibility and lost tax revenue have been driving all stakeholders in different directions for years.

PRISM added it has observed such “substantial” agreement between stakeholders across the board over how policy should be made with regards to the tax and legal treatment of workers that it believes the government will have no choice but to remodel current legal and tax frameworks for workers once Taylor’s recommendations are made to avoid almost “total disaffection” among UK workers and businesses.

The organisation added the common ground established between stakeholders was reinforced at a recent event hosted by the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA). PRISM CEO Crawford Temple said: “I was struck by how many calls there were for clarity, transparency and direction.

“That was the overwhelming theme of the event as one person after another echoed a desire to see joined up policy making solve these issues once and for all. This wasn’t the first time. It has become an ever-present wish at every event I attend.

“I think this is what will separate the Taylor Review from many other reviews that have come before it in many different areas of government.

Often when these types of inquiries are commissioned, someone goes away, does some thinking and offers up some ideas. Quite often this is because the government needs to be seen to be doing something but changes are adopted slowly if at all.

“We are in a different place with Matthew Taylor. The tectonic plates of employment and tax law are moving apart like never before and there is no force on Earth that is going to allow the current regime to preside over them effectively in two or three years’ time.

Things are changing too quickly and the government are not going to be able to simply kick this can down the road any more.

“It is an uncertain time but it is also reassuring to know that whatever happens we are likely to end up with a better fit than we have at the moment, an attempt at fairness in which knock-on-effects of policy changes have been considered properly.”

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