Employment status and the Taylor review 


The Taylor review, Good work: the Taylor review of modern employment practices, was conducted by Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts at the request of the government, and published in July 2017. “Employment status” was a key issue in this review. Taylor’s central proposal is for the introduction of a new employment status, to be termed “dependent contractor”, sitting alongside employees and the self-employed. This suggestion has been strongly criticised by unions and the TUC. 


The TUC are concerned that a new “dependent contractor” status could produce yet another distinct legal category, with fewer rights for affected working people, further widening inequality at work. Instead, the TUC wants the boundary between “employees” and “workers” to be removed altogether, and replaced by a new definition of “worker”. “It should make no difference if individuals are an employee, or if they are offered or allocated work via an agency, an online platform or an app installed on their smartphones. All economically dependent workers should benefit from the decent floor of rights currently enjoyed by employees”, says the TUC.


In its response to the Taylor review, published in February 2018, the government has not discounted Taylor’s suggestion of a new employment status. There is to be further consultation, alongside HMRC and the Treasury. Tax recovery, in particular a desire to curtail avoidance of National Insurance contributions, is an important driver of the government's wish to reform the UK’s employment status laws.