Citation and commencement

1. This Order may be cited as the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (Modification of Section 4A) Order 2026 and comes into force on 26th March 2026.

Modification of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992

2. In section 4A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (earnings of workers supplied by service companies etc.)—

(a)after subsection (2B) insert—

“(2C) Regulations may also make provision—

(a)for a person (“a jointly liable person”) to be jointly and severally liable for contributions payable by an umbrella company, including contributions payable as a result of provision made by virtue of paragraph (c), in respect of earnings paid to or for the benefit of an earner (“the worker”) in circumstances where the jointly liable person is jointly and severally liable for amounts in respect of the employment of the worker as a result of Chapter 11 of Part 2 of ITEPA 2003,

(b)in connection with the recovery of those contributions from a jointly liable person, and

(c)for securing that, where an individual is treated for income tax purposes, as a result of section 61Z1 of ITEPA 2003, as holding an employment with a purported umbrella company, within the meaning of that section—

(i)payments or benefits of any specified description made or provided in connection with the performance by the individual of the services to which the deemed employment relates are treated for the purposes of the applicable provisions of this Act as earnings paid to the worker in respect of an employed earner’s employment,

(ii)the individual is treated for those purposes, in relation to such payments or benefits, as employed in the employed earner’s employment by the purported umbrella company, and

(iii)the purported umbrella company, whether or not fulfilling the conditions prescribed under section 1(6)(a) for secondary contributors, is treated for those purposes as the secondary contributor in respect of those payments or benefits.”;

(b) in subsection (3)(g), for “or the MSC” substitute “, the MSC or an umbrella company” ;

(c)in subsection (4)—

(i) in paragraph (a), after “intermediary” insert “, an umbrella company or a jointly liable person” ;

(ii) in paragraph (b)(i), for “or the MSC” substitute “, the MSC, an umbrella company or a jointly liable person” ;

(d)in subsection (6), at the appropriate place insert—

““umbrella company” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of Chapter 11 of Part 2 of ITEPA 2003.”.