UK Ministers have ordered an HMRC crackdown on firms that use large numbers of self-employed or agency workers in order to deny them employment rights, reports the Guardian.

The crackdown follows an investigation into the low pay of self-employed couriers who work for Hermes, a UK courier company.

Treasury Financial Secretary Jane Ellison has said HM Revenue and Customs was changing its compliance approach with the launch of a new specialist unit dedicated to tackling such issues and investigating the business practices of companies who opt out of giving workers employment protections by using agency staff or calling them self-employed. 

The new HMRC unit, called the employment status and intermediaries team, will investigate companies that declare they use high numbers of self-employed workers and will also act on intelligence and complaints about alleged abuses of the rules around self-employment.

"This dedicated resource will allow HMRC to better focus their resources and expertise to ensure these issues are effectively tackled," Ellison said.

The new HMRC approach could have an effect on the gig economy and their workers.

“Employment status in the UK is determined by the reality of the working relationship, not simply by the terms of any contract,” Ellison added. “Individuals cannot be opted out of employment rights and protections simply by an engager calling them ‘self-employed’,” Ellison said.

"I can reassure you that the Government takes false self-employment very seriously and is committed to taking strong action where companies, to reduce their costs, force their staff down routes which deny them the employment rights and benefits they are entitled to," Ellison said in a letter to Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.

HMRC executive chairman Edward Troup also said in a letter to Field: “If we find that companies have misclassified individuals as self-employed, we will take all necessary steps to make sure that they pay the appropriate tax, NICs (national insurance contributions), interest and penalties," Labour MP Frank Field said.

Field welcomed the new approach and unit.

"Clearly the Government is girding its loins for a serious fight back against those companies trying to wriggle out of their obligation to pay the minimum wage by enforcing 'self-employment' on their workers," Field said.

A spokeswoman for Hermes told The Guardian: "We are confident in the legality of our self-employed courier model and we will co-operate fully with any investigation, should there be one."