ECSH44400 - The Register: Call centres and home workers

Identification of home workers

In the course of dealing with an application you may identify that the business appears to be operating from multiple residential premises. This may indicate that the business is using home workers.

This may be identified through:

  • open-source checks e.g. looking at business website, or on receipt of information from the business
  • Multiple residential premises reported in its registration information appears to be the personal addresses of the relevant beneficial owners, officers and managers (BOOMs)
  • contact from the business to query whether home worker addresses need to be included.

Caseworker action

Where additional premises are identified or multiple residential premises are reported, you should contact the business to advise that these addresses may need to be included in its registration. You can either contact the business by issuing a secure communication to its government gateway account or via email  and advise it to:

  • include the additional premises in its registration or,
  • present it with an opportunity to advise why it does not think that the additional premises should be registered.

Where the business contacts HMRC to query whether home worker addresses need to be included in its registration details, you should refer the business to the guidance in ECSH44125  - premises to register - and ask it to confirm that these addresses meet all of the conditions for a home worker’s address to be excluded from registration.

Where the business confirms that all the conditions set out in ECSH44125 are met, you should inform the business that no further premises need to be added to its registration at this time, based on the information it has provided.

Where the business confirms that some, but not all, of the exclusion conditions are met, you should inform the business that it is required to add the additional premises to its registration and pay the relevant premises fee(s).

If the business disagrees

If the business does not agree that the additional premises need to be added to its registration, you should consider contacting the business to request that it provides further clarification of the activities conducted at these premises.

If you can’t resolve the position with the business, you should first discuss the case with your manager.

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)