Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced plans to consult on a levy on firms subject to money laundering regulations, in the budget this week, as well as a further £23m for the criminal justice system as a whole.
However, Kingsley Napley criminal litigation partner Alun Milford said: ‘Earlier reports suggested the aim is to boost funding of technology and investigators which is all very well, but if correct, addresses only one piece of the puzzle.
‘The government needs also to ensure investment in extra prosecutors and a proper functioning court service to deal with money laundering and fraud cases effectively. Only with investment across the system will the authorities really be able to boast about a significant ramping up of the war on dirty money and financial crime and to meet the objectives set out in the Economic Crime Plan.’
Christopher David, counsel, WilmerHale, said: ‘The UK regulated sector already faces one of the most onerous anti-money laundering regimes in the world and this additional levy will undoubtedly be a further burden.’
Law Society president Simon Davis described the extra £23m―which includes £5m to trial specialist domestic abuse courts, £15m for crime victims and £3m for the Royal Commission on criminal justice―as a ‘drop in the ocean’ that ‘does not come close to the hundreds of millions cut from legal aid’. However, he welcomed the recognition of the trauma experienced by domestic abuse victims and the commitment to early intervention and rehabilitation measures for perpetrators.
For the coronavirus pandemic, the Chancellor said employees would be entitled to full pay if quarantined or told not to come in to work.
The Budget also introduced a non-residents surcharge on stamp duty land tax of 2% from April 2021, and confirmed it will legislate to implement the changes to the off-payroll working rules (IR35) from 6 April 2020.
DWF corporate tax partner Caroline Colliston said the implementation would ‘occur against a backdrop of concerns… about the impact on business, the labour supply chain and the confusion and lack of clarity around the terms and operation of the legislation’.
She suggested employers ‘take quick action’ to ensure compliance, including ‘identifying their contingent workforce, ensuring the burden of operating PAYE is shifted down their contractual labour supply chain, reviewing the terms of contracts in their labour supply chain, adopting robust internal procedures and audits to ensure status determination statements are provided and liability is limited as well as considering establishing an employment status disagreement process’.
