Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many contractors working for her Department have had their employment status assessed in relation to the new IR35 rules on off-payroll working; and how many of those staff are subject to those rules.

All off-payroll public sector staff are subject to being checked against IR35 legislation which came into effect in 2017. New legislative changes for off-payroll workers were confirmed with an implementation by 6^thApril 2020 with implications for both public and private sector companies. The Government have since announced that this implementation will be delayed until 6^th April 2021. The Department for International Trade (DIT) intend to be compliant with the new IR35 rules by the revised date of 6^th April 2021. Currently, there are 182 workers in scope of IR35 and 141 outside the scope of IR35 within DIT. For UK Export Finance (UKEF), there are currently no contractors in scope of IR35. There are currently 14 contractors working for UKEF who fall outside the scope of IR35.