In an investigation, the BBC said Anderson Group – which calls itself the UK’s “leading provider of support services to the recruitment industry” – is depriving the UK Treasury of “tens of millions of pounds in National Insurance payments”. It has been exploiting the government’s Employment Allowance, which was introduced last year.
The allowance allows eligible businesses to reduce National Insurance bills by up to £2,000. Anderson Group denied any wrongdoing, and said its services were fully compliant with UK tax laws. It added that it was “totally incorrect” to say that the company was promoting the scheme, and is simply a product being offered by one of its clients. The BBC said it had secretly recorded the company’s sales manager, Ian Moran, promoting the tax avoidance scheme to a recruitment agency. It employed 300 workers, many of whom were working low-paid jobs in warehouses. Moran had suggested that if the recruitment agency were to set up over 100 limited companies with a few workers in each of them, each company could claim the £2,000 allowance. The allowance could help businesses reduce their costs, reinvest the money saved in underfunded areas or potentially increase salaries for existing staff to improve morale. Moran’s suggestions would mean the agency’s National Insurance bill would then fall from £300,000 a year to zero. The BBC reported that Moran then suggested the recruitment company – which didn’t intend to use the scheme – might like to spend the £300,000 “on Bentleys and ski chalets”. It recorded him saying, the “job’s a good’un”. Read more on tax avoidance:- Next loses battle against HMRC, which claimed the retailer was avoiding tax
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