From 6 April 2017 the university, and all public sector bodies, will be required to determine whether their off-payroll consultants will be working in a manner akin to an employee. This change will affect all off-payroll engagements from that date, including on-going arrangements which commenced prior to April.
If you are involved in the hiring of contract staff at Kent you will need to help us determine whether the new rules apply.
Higher risk engagements are those with contractors that provide their services personally via their own limited company, known as a personal service company (PSC) or through another intermediary such as a partnership. This model may be used by the following groups:
- IT consultants
- Project Managers
- Business Analysts
If the news rules do apply, we will be required to deduct PAYE income tax and National Insurance (NI) from the payments made to these ‘workers’ in a similar manner to permanent employees and report and pay these deductions over to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Contracts that are not affected by the new rules will continue to be paid via an invoice as they are now.
The Payroll team will be liaising with the Finance Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to provide guidance on how to apply the new rules and assess their impact.
If you have specific questions on this issue, please email payoffice@kent.ac.uk in the first instance.