David Morris MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale welcomes the publication of the Taylor Review this morning.
As the Chair of the self-employment APPG in Parliament David Morris MP met with Matthew Taylor a few months ago to feed his own ideas into the review.
Speaking following the publication of the review this morning during a statement in the House of Commons David Morris MP said:
Before I became a Member of Parliament, I was self-employed for almost 30 years. I was also the self-employment ambassador to the previous Prime Minister, David Cameron, and I worked with Matthew Taylor on this report. I found him to be extremely non-partisan and an absolute gentleman. May I urge my hon. Friend to accept the proposed measures for the self-employed, especially the maternity and paternity benefits?
Minister for BEIS Margot James MP said:
I will certainly take on board my hon. Friend’s views, which are based on many years’ experience. I thank him for his contribution to the report.
David Morris MP’s discussions with Matthew Taylor during the review focussed on 4 key areas which have been included in the report. All of the areas David discussed with Matthew have been covered in the report.
1. Cutting red tape surrounding the description of self-employment
‘The lack of a cross departmental description of self-employment has complicated the system for the self-employed for far too long. I am pleased that Matthew Taylor has recommended a need to align the employment status framework and the tax status framework to ensure that there is one description for the self-employed and people who are self-employed always know which legislation applies to them without complication’
2. Streamline of National Insurance
‘National insurance for the self-employed is needlessly complicated and I am delighted that the Class 2 contributions will finally be abolished in 2018. But as more rights are given to the self-employed as too should contributions to the exchequer. It cannot continue to be the case that an employed person pays significantly less for the same benefits. The differences in these payments arose when people who were employed got significantly more benefits than those who were self-employed. I agree with the findings of the report that the self-employed should be taxed neutrally as a component part of the UK Labour market’
3. Maternity and Paternity Pay
‘I have long campaigned for the maternity and paternity rights for the self-employed and I am pleased that the review acknowledges the need for all workers to have the same rights in this vein’
4. Planning for the Future (Pension)
‘One of the issues I discussed with Matthew Taylor was the fear that some self-employed people are not saving for their retirement which can lead to hardship in the future. Matthew’s idea to add an optional 4% onto a tax return for an extra pension contribution is a welcome one and will help people who want to save for their future. As an opt in if people want to carry on making private arrangements then they would still be able to do that but currently only 27% of the self- employed put money away for a pension.’