The Guild welcomes the news that self-employment in the Construction Industry has now reached over one million freelancers being paid via CIS. The freedom of information claim recently published in the industry showed an 8% increase in the amount of sub-contractors being paid through the self-employed route, pushing the number over 1 million from 993,000 last year.
This strong increase is yet another boost for the Construction Industry Scheme, that has served the industry and sub-contractors well for over two decades.
The ongoing scrutiny of CIS and the changes the government brought forward in 2014 have moved the Industry a long way to stamping out bad practices and placed a much stronger emphasis on robust fit-for-purpose compliance.
Whilst there are undoubtedly some, who are willing to skirt around the new rules, The Guild continues to place the importance of compliance first.
Commenting on the rise in CIS, Derek Reynolds, Guild MD, said: “I welcome the increase in the amount of highly skilled operatives choosing the self-employed route. It is important that we recognise the important and high quality work they do. We must, however, continue to focus on stamping out bad practice in the Industry. This is best done through first class compliance.”
