While our members fully support clarity and compliance within the tax system, many recruitment businesses that have acted in good faith and in line with previous HMRC guidance now face the risk of retrospective VAT refund claims from clients, potentially going back four years. This creates substantial financial and operational uncertainty for recruitment businesses that have followed HMRC’s established approach.
In addition, our members are deeply concerned about the practical implications of reclaiming VAT from HMRC. The process is widely understood to be complex and slow, placing further strain on recruitment businesses that may already be facing cash flow pressures as a result of refund claims.
APSCo believes this risks penalising compliant businesses for historic arrangements that were considered correct at the time and could undermine confidence across the healthcare recruitment sector. We seek urgent clear guidance from HMRC sooner rather than later.
We are actively engaging with HMRC to ensure these concerns are fully understood, including the potential impact on recruitment businesses, their clients, and the wider supply of locum doctors. Our focus is on working collaboratively with HMRC to identify a fair and workable solution that avoids disproportionate consequences and provides certainty for all parties.
We will continue to keep our members informed as discussions progress.