28 October 2025
At ACE25, HMRC’s Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary, Angela MacDonald announced that our very own Mathew Akrigg, policy and research officer, is soon to be seconded to HMRC’s policy team to help design and implement the government’s upcoming mandate for the payrolling of benefits, set to become mandatory in April 2027.
Mathew’s 16 month secondment highlights the CIPP’s role in ensuring payroll professionals, employers, and software developers are fully supported during the transition.
Currently voluntary, payrolling of benefits allows employers to include the taxable value of perks such as company cars or private health insurance in employees’ regular pay, with tax deducted in real time. From 2027, this system will replace annual benefit reporting via P11D forms.
Mathew has said: “This is a very exciting time for me and I am honoured to be given this opportunity. Payroll professionals keep the UK economy going, collecting billions on behalf of HMRC, and I am looking forward to bringing my practical experience and the voice of the entire industry to HMRC’s policy team.”
The collaboration aims to strengthen communication between HMRC and the payroll sector, helping the department design practical processes and guidance for the new framework.
Samantha O’Sullivan, Policy Lead, said the secondment “is a testament to the strength of collaboration between industry and government.”
“Mathew’s expertise and practical understanding of payroll operations will be vital in ensuring the payrolling of benefits mandate is designed with the needs of employers, payroll professionals and software providers in mind,” she added.
The initiative builds on the work of the Cross Body Mandating Payrolling of Benefits Working Group, which includes representatives from professional bodies such as the CIOT, ATT, BASDA, ICAEW, and BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT’s Payroll Specialist Group.
The policy team remains committed to representing the payroll profession’s voice in policy development and will continue to share updates and guidance ahead of the 2027 rollout.
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