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Brendan McGurk was part of the team that successfully defended the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills against a challenge to the lawfulness of a new method by which an industrial training levy is to be calculated and imposed on the construction industry. The construction levy is imposed on construction employers to raise funds for the training of both the employed and the self-employed workforce in the construction industry. In order to meet concerns within the industry that the basis upon which levy was to be collected on payments made to the self-employed workforce had become too complicated, the Construction Industry Training Board adopted HMRC’s Construction Industry Scheme as the means by which levy would be calculated on payments made to independent contractors. Hudson Contracts Services Limited, an industry-leading labour agency (albeit providing PAYE and payroll services only), sought to contend that the new basis upon which levy is to be calculated and imposed was ultra vires the Industrial Training Act 1982. The three grounds of challenge pursued by Hudson were each dismissed by Kerr J in a judgment that is available here. The case is one of a number of tax judicial reviews on which Brendan is currently acting.
To view the full judgment, please click here.