Chancellor Osborne expected to confirm crackdown on false self-employment.
UK demolition and construction companies will be glued to their TVs and radios this afternoon as Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his latest Budget speech.
In what is now the run-in to a General Election, the speech is widely expected to be, at worst, bland and, at best, aimed at winning over a few more potential voters.
However, it is also expected that Osborne will use this opportunity to confirm the planned clampdown on “false self-employment”, triggering an overnight price hike in demolition and construction labour costs. Some estimates suggest that the hike could be as high as 25 to 30 percent.
And while the thought of having to place current temporary workers “on the books” and cover their National Insurance contributions, holiday and sick pay will be the main talking point, it is the timing and the likely knock-on effect that will have UK demolition companies sweating.
If the planned move IS ratified in the Budget speech later today, companies have less than a month to make ready for the 6 April deadline. Sceptics might suggest that leaving the final decision so close to the planned starting point is a deliberate move to prevent agencies devising a legal circumnavigation of the new rules to retain the current status quo.
Equally worrying is the fact that the change comes when the UK’s recovery remains both fragile and regionally-specific.
The use of temporary labour has traditionally allowed UK demolition companies to expand and trim their workforces as workloads and economic fluctuations dictated. That flexibility is likely to be removed, just as the industry needs it most.
Further information can be found on Pages 6 and 7 of the Purple Haze edition of the Demolition magazine.
