National Insurance Contributions – Employment status of lecturers, teachers and instructors

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In October 2009, HMRC published a consultation document entitled Lecturers, teachers, instructors or those in a similar capacity – In relation to the amendment of the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978.

In certain specific situations, the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978 dictate that a self-employed person must be treated as an employee for NICs purposes. The workers affected by these rules are those working under conditions that are similar to employment and whose security of employment is such that they would be exceptionally vulnerable if they were not entitled to contributory state benefits. Among the workers specified in the regulations are lecturers, teachers, instructors and other persons working in a similar capacity. They are treated as self-employed for tax purposes but as employees for NICs purposes.

The consultation document discussed the published guidance on this subject and the difficulties in applying the rules that had been indentified in the First Aid training sector due to the diverse circumstances in which first aid training is delivered. Concluding that a further revision of the guidance will not help, HMRC proposed to make adjustments to the Regulations themselves.

In March 2010, HMRC published a review of the responses to the consultation document. Overall, the responses were not supportive of HMRC’s proposals and raised a number of issues relating both the interpretation of the Regulations and the impact of their application. As a result, HMRC has decided to consult further with stakeholders to identify the most effective and appropriate way forward.

Ministers have agreed, therefore, to withdraw the proposed April 2010 amendments to the Regulations and for the 1978 Regulations to continue to apply in the meantime.

Further information:

Lecturers, teachers, instructors or those in a similar capacity – Consultation Responses Document

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 12:01 and is filed under National Insurance Contributions, NIC, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.