Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HMRC is taking to investigate salons that may not be paying employer National Insurance contributions, VAT liabilities, or pension obligations through the misclassification of staff as self-employed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s priority is to ensure that everyone pays the tax they are legally required to pay including those in the hair and beauty sector.
HMRC’s approach focuses on preventing non‑compliance from arising in the first place by providing clear guidance and tools. In the case of salon owners and workers, additional support to get their tax obligations right has been provided in collaboration with trade bodies. To help support these customers, HMRC has worked with trade bodies for this sector to develop new educational material and has published guidance on GOV.UK to better explain the employment status and tax implications of different business models. Details can be found at: https://youtu.be/5o3au6PyXG8 and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-if-you-work-in-hair-and-beauty
At the same time, HMRC is actively tackling disguised employment in salons and making it harder for the minority who deliberately misclassify workers to avoid paying employer National Insurance, VAT, or pension contributions. HMRC carries out targeted compliance activity to identify cases where individuals presented as self‑employed are, in reality, working as employees.
HMRC is committed to tackling false self-employment and will investigate evidence that suggests businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. To report a person or business you think is not paying enough tax please click Report tax fraud or avoidance to HMRC - GOV.UK for more information.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of public information campaigns on levels of benefit-related fraud.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP will be launching a new campaign at the end of January 2026. This campaign will focus on the three greatest key loss areas for the Department – living together, self-employed, and capital & savings. It will run across a range of channels, including on demand video, out-of-home, digital display, paid search and paid social.
The campaign’s communications objectives are to increase awareness of the consequences of not reporting changes of circumstances to DWP and to increase understanding of the types of changes of circumstances that need to be reported amongst Universal Credit customers.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to tackle bogus self-employment in the digital economy.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Government is clear that bogus self-employment is unacceptable. Employers should never seek to deny people their employment rights and avoid their own legal obligations by claiming someone is self-employed when in reality they are not. We recognise the complexity of the UK's current employment status framework and are committed to consulting on a simpler framework.
Our priority is ensuring those workers who are most vulnerable know their rights and have the benefit of protection at work, including those working in the digital economy.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of investigations into the tax status of workers engaged by contractors or subcontractors on the delivery of HS2.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Transport Secretary has been clear allegations of fraud need to be investigated urgently and rigorously. Wherever fraud is found, there will be consequences for those involved. All whistleblower allegations received by HS2 Ltd are treated seriously and thoroughly investigated.
Danny Sullivan Group (DSG), a labour supply subcontractor to Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), has been under investigation for allegedly inflating invoices by including PAYE and NIC charges for self-employed workers who are not subject to these deductions. The matter was reported to HMRC on 29 May 2025, but further details cannot be disclosed in line with HMRC guidance. On Friday 4 July 2025, BBV terminated its labour supply agreement with Danny Sullivan Group following an independent investigation into the status of workers.
While HS2 Ltd does not hold direct contracts with labour suppliers, it requires its supply chain to comply fully with contractual and tax obligations and HS2 Ltd is continuing to conduct further investigations into labour supply contracts across the supply chain.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fraud and error rates of (1) the £20 Universal Credit uplift, (2) the suspension of the minimum income floor for self-employed claimants, and (3) the increase in local housing allowance, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
They show that, as a result of the suspension of the MIF, the estimated rate of overpayments as a percentage of UC expenditure was:
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to support self-employed people who were excluded from financial support during the pandemic.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Decisions on eligibility for Covid-19 financial support were taken by the previous government. The previous Government decided to provide support through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) based on two principles, a) targeting support at those who needed it most and b), guarding against error, fraud, and abuse, whilst reaching as many individuals as possible. Those ineligible for the schemes may have been eligible for other elements of financial support provided by the previous Government.
The current Government is working to improve living standards for everyone across the country. We are taking immediate action to support individuals, such as committing to no increases in employee National Insurance, Income Tax or VAT as we want to keep taxes low for working people. The Government has put growth as its number one mission, which will help individuals by boosting wages and putting more money in people’s pockets.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits, (b) costs and (c) viability of establishing a financial compensation scheme for taxpayers who did not receive government financial support during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Government currently has no plans to assess or pursue such a financial compensation scheme.
HM Treasury provided an extensive package of support for individuals, businesses and public services throughout the pandemic, including an estimated £98 billion through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Together the schemes supported approximately 14.6 million employed and self-employed individuals, helping to protect jobs, businesses and livelihoods.
The previous Government provided support through the CJRS and SEISS based on two principles, a) targeting support at those who needed it most and b), guarding against error, fraud and abuse, whilst reaching as many individuals as possible. The SEISS paid out over £28 billion to nearly 3 million self-employed individuals and was one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world. Those ineligible for the SEISS may have been eligible for other elements of financial support provided by the previous Government.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of HMRC's rate of return on investment for (a) covid-schemes fraud and error and (b) tax compliance recovery.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At Budget 2021, the Government announced an investment of over £100 million in the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, to be in place for two years to April 2023, to combat fraud in the COVID-19 financial support schemes administered by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self Employed Income Support Scheme and Eat Out To Help Out). Including amounts recovered through compliance work on the COVID-19 schemes before the taskforce was formed, HMRC expects to recover £1.1bn by September 2023.
On 13 October 2022, HMRC set out their plans in an issue briefing ”HMRC issue briefing: tackling error and fraud in the Covid-19 support schemes” to transition COVID-19 compliance activity to business-as-usual compliance teams by the end of September 2023.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to replace the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce with an alternative scheme after September 2023.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At Budget 2021, the Government announced an investment of over £100 million in the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce, to be in place for two years to April 2023, to combat fraud in the COVID-19 financial support schemes administered by HMRC (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self Employed Income Support Scheme and Eat Out To Help Out).
As planned between April and September 2023, compliance staff currently deployed on the taskforce will move back to business-as-usual tax compliance activity. Ongoing investigations into overclaimed grants that haven't been concluded will be worked to completion. HMRC will consider the risk of overclaims of COVID-19 grants alongside other tax compliance risks when prioritising cases for a compliance check. This is the most efficient way to ensure we protect and recover taxpayers’ money, as it allows HMRC to deal with all aspects of a customer’s potential non-compliance in a single check.
HMRC remains committed to tackling error and fraud in the COVID-19 support schemes where this is the most cost-effective use of resources, and we are not writing off any overpayments of grants. We will continue to take action against those who have deliberately sought to abuse the COVID-19 financial support schemes, while recognising there will be people who have made honest mistakes.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce employed as of 12 July 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100 million investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and Eat Out to Help Out). The taskforce does not deliver compliance across schemes administered outside HMRC.
Anyone who keeps grant money despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potentially criminal prosecution.
HMRC identifies claims for compliance checks where the amount of the claim is out of step with other information. The risk that the claim is incorrect may be due to either an honest mistake or fraud, therefore, the value of recovered grants does not distinguish between error and fraud.
As of July 2022, the taskforce was made up of 1,155 full-time equivalent staff (FTE). The FTE will vary across the year. The resource commitment is proportionate to the number of high-risk claims made and the risks posed by error and fraud in the HMRC administered schemes.
The taskforce commenced activity from April 2021 and will build on the £536 million already recovered in 2020-21. Taskforce performance for 2021-22 is covered in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022. This is in addition to the amounts that HMRC prevented from being paid out on incorrect claims.