Mr. Niall Cody:

I can set out the various figures where we reclassify a number of people as a result of work we do. If the Deputy gives me a bit of time, I will come back to him on this before the session has ended, but on the aggregate level, there is no evidence that there is a significant increase in the number of what would appear to be employees who are self-employed.

There was growth over the past ten years in personal service companies and managed service companies. There are a number of companies whose business model is establishing those types of processing. There are thousands of these companies and many people are perfectly happy to have moved to a director position. During our examination of the contractors, I was fascinated by some of the managed service companies because, generally, they have six directors and often they do not know each other and they tend to be professionals. Essentially, it is a different way of providing that model.

The other issue is the gig economy model. Members will be aware of the recently published Tax Appeal Commission's decision in regard to "in employment of". In that case, we challenged the employment status of delivery workers and we were successful. The reality is that in many of these areas the contractual arrangements are such that unless either party to the contract decides to tell us that it is not a legitimate contract, we cannot overthrow it.