Proposed MSC Legislation Update

As a consequence of the proposed Managed Service Company (MSC's) Legislation  announced on the 6th December 2006, there has been a lot of confusion within the contracting market. Equally it appears that  there have been deliberate attempts by various operatives within the industry to circulate misinformation for scare-mongering purposes.

We at Atlantic Umbrella have been monitoring the situation closely, and find it interesting that most MSC's have "openly welcomed" the new legislation as beneficial. We feel the reality will prove the exact opposite.

Atlantic Umbrella has gone to great lengths researching the proposed legislation and confidently concluded that our business model falls 100% outside the proposed legislation.

We believe this due to the following facts:

1) Atlantic Umbrella employs its member contractors.

2) Atlantic Umbrella has never and will never pay dividends to contractors.

3) Atlantic Umbrella operates a PAYE scheme.

4) Atlantic Umbrella pay National Insurance Contributions.

5) Atlantic Umbrella have always operated in a compliant manner and will always do so.

To further reinforce our findings Atlantic Umbrella sought both Legal and Accountancy advice who conclude that Atlantic Umbrella will be 100% unaffected*.

Our legal advisors were approached by the treasury for consultation purposes on the implementations of this legislations and were advised that the MSC Legislation is not aimed at legitimate operatives like ourselves (Employment Management Company).**

As far as Atlantic Umbrella is concerned, come April 2007 it will be business as usual for our Contractors.

*This is based on the current draft legislation.

**Our Legal Advisors are Lawspeed