4 ways that you can input to the umbrella company call for evidence

As set out in our article written for ContractorUK ‘Don’t miss this golden opportunity to speak up about umbrella companies’, this is the final call for workers to have their say on umbrellas. It is important that the departments running the consultation (HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy) hear directly from workers and this is a good chance for YOU to help shape what happens in the future with umbrella companies.

There are four main ways that workers can input into the call for evidence process:

Making a formal written response

Making a formal written response can be daunting and you may have never done anything like this before. Don’t worry! We set out some tips to help you make a formal written respond to the call for evidence in our original news article including:

• The call for evidence contains 38 questions. You are not expected to answer all of them or even any of them – it is fine to just send in bullet points or something in a free format if you want!
• There is no right or wrong format, however it is helpful to number your paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and so on.
• Just saying things naturally, in your own words, can be very powerful

Completing the worker survey

If you would prefer to, you can complete a simple worker survey on GOV.UK, which is an alternative way of sharing feedback to making a formal written response.

There are five questions including an open question asking for any feedback (good or bad!) on your experience of working through an umbrella company.

Responses can be submitted anonymously and if you don’t feel comfortable answering a particular question you can simply put “n/a” in the box to get the survey to submit.

Joining a video call

As part of the call for evidence, the departments running the call for evidence are keen to hear from a full range of voices, including those of workers who might prefer to speak of their experiences. A video call, focussed on lower paid workers, has been set up for 6pm – 7pm on 8 February 2022.

The call will be attended by a few officials from HMRC etc., a small group of workers and also representatives from TaxAid and LITRG, who will help facilitate the call.

There will be a couple of set questions to start things off (for example, how you ended up working through an umbrella company and whether you had a choice as to which umbrella company you worked through), but then it will be an open discussion about peoples’ experiences.

We provide further explanation as to what might be involved (and some reassurances) in our original news article.

If you would like to get involved in the video call, please contact us, and let us know as soon as possible so we can put you on the list/arrange for the Teams link to be sent to you. (If you do not have a Teams account don’t worry – you can join as a ‘guest’

Writing into us

LITRG will be making a written submission to the call for evidence. If you have any comments or thoughts about points that you think we should make in response to the call for evidence, please feed them into us for consideration, via the Contact Us facility.