THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF HS2

TO DISCOVER THE PAST, ARCHAEOLOGISTS OFTEN DIG A TRENCH ACROSS A HISTORICAL SITE. HOWEVER, HS2 IS DIGGING A TRENCH FROM LONDON TO BIRMINGHAM!

Join Kirsten Whitehouse as she journeys through time. Encounter long-lost heroes, find treasure, discover murder victims and unravel mysteries along the way. Sounds a bit like something from days gone by, a happy return to childhood books and tv programmes, doesn’t it? And yet, this is the most modern journey of all.

Much has been written about the construction of HS2, both sides of the argument for and against have been voiced aplenty, and yet a major part of the project has gone largely unnoticed.

Welcome to your journey through the archaeology of High Speed Two, Europe’s biggest excavation programme and the largest ever undertaken in the UK. Ranging from the Prehistoric and Roman Britain to the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval periods, and the Industrial Revolution and World War 2, HS2’s archaeology has a potential for discoveries on an unprecedented level.

RailStaff was given the opportunity to chat with Mike Court, historic environment lead at High Speed Two, and project archaeologist Dr Rachel Wood about some of the finds they have already unearthed along the initial route, and the years of careful planning that have gone into this project.

Phase 1 of the high-speed rail link will connect London with Birmingham, Phase 2a will go on to Crewe and Phase 2b will, at a later stage, link to Leeds and Manchester. In essence, the team around Mike and Rachel – a staggering number of over 1,000 archaeologists, specialists, scientists and conservators – is digging a 155-mile trench right up the country and is uncovering 10,000 years’ worth of history, which might never have seen the light of day were it not for this major railway project.

A little-known fact is that the government doesn’t usually allocate funds to archaeology works – most historic finds are made by pure chance, during private development. “This means, they are often an inconvenience, and removed in the quickest possible way,” Mike Court explained. “This is where we are so lucky, because the High Speed Two project specifically required us to carefully consider the possible archaeology along the route.” Dr Rachel Wood.

EARLY START

HS2 was first proposed in 2009, to increase capacity on Britain’s railways. A route with alterations designed to minimise the visual, noise, and other environmental impacts of the line was opened to public consultation in December 2010 and construction was confirmed in early 2012. Royal Assent was finally given in February 2017, but to get this permission meant Mike and his colleagues had already spent around two years on archaeological and environmental research of the likely route.

Their work included putting together strict guidelines with regards to how to approach the massive task in hand and how to treat anything they unearthed in the process correctly. The HS2 Heritage Memorandum is one of the suite of documents forming Phase One of the High Speed Two Environmental Minimum Requirements (EMRs) – the overarching commitments by the Secretary of State to afford appropriate management and protection of people, communities and the natural, cultural and built environment. For Mike and Rachel’s work, the Heritage Memorandum specifically states that “The investigation and recording works will seek to advance our understanding of the past”.

The programme sets out the key stages of investigation and recording, for example detailed desk-based assessment, field evaluation, location-specific investigation and recording, and archaeological and built heritage post excavation (assessment, analysis, reporting and archiving). The team works closely with Historic England as well as local authorities throughout this entire process.

Once the paperwork is done though – where do you even start? Mike laughed: “With a lot of photos and historical research!” The ‘detailed desk-based assessment’, in this case, meant that the planned route was assessed based on previous knowledge of settlements or historic events and aerial footage was used to highlight possible areas of interest.

Getting the go-ahead for field-based work was an exciting day for Mike: “As an archaeologist, you are always thrilled by the opportunity to excavate something you don’t normally get the chance to. And a project on this scale… while we are not exactly rewriting history books, we are certainly filling in a lot of gaps in our knowledge with what we have already unearthed.”

Osteologist from MOLA Headland studies a skeleton excavated for HS2.

THE MAN WHO NAMED AUSTRALIA

They set to work, strictly adhering to their own guidelines, for example when it comes to the excavation of human remains, which are treated with due dignity, care and respect.

One of the first physical projects took place at St James’ Gardens, London, the location which will eventually house HS2’s London terminal at Euston. Around 60,000 people were known to have been buried there in the 18th and 19th century. Bodies were exhumed and reburied with greatest dignity, in accordance with Christian practices.

The team was amazed to find, among the perfectly preserved coffins, the remains of Captain Matthew Flinders, the famous Royal Navy explorer who had circumnavigated and mapped the coastline of Australia (a name that he chose!) in the late 18th century. The exact location of his grave had been lost for well over 150 years and it was thought that he possibly lay underneath one of Euston station’s platforms, but now a well-preserved, ornate lead coffin plate (below left) made it possible to identify the remains.

After careful consultation with Captain Flinders’ descendants, Mark Thurston, HS2’s chief executive, has since confirmed that Captain Flinders will be reinterred at the Church of St Mary and the Holy Rood in Donington, Lincolnshire. Many of his family members have been laid to rest there and he himself had been baptised in the church in 1774.

AN IRON-AGE MURDER?

With over 60 active excavation sites along the route, it is not surprising that other remains have been discovered, many of them predating the London finds by centuries – and even millennia.

One such site is being headed up by Dr Rachel Wood. Having worked as an archaeological

© MOLA Headland

consultant for only nine months prior to getting involved in the HS2 project, Rachel was “really excited to get the call” and now oversees the Wellwick Farm site on the western edge of Wendover in Buckinghamshire. It was here that her team discovered the skeleton of an adult male who had been buried face down with his hands tied in front of his hips.

“We are awaiting further results from our osteologists,” Rachel told RailStaff, “but there are very few reasons why he would end up – literally – in a ditch, in this position!” The team suspects that the man had either been executed or was a murder victim of sorts.

From a number of pottery pieces they found in the layers above his grave, they have determined that he very likely lived during the Iron Age, making him in excess of 2,200 years old.

Once the osteological analysis is complete, what will happen with the remains, seeing as they predate Christian times? As before, they will, of course, always be treated with due dignity and respect. Like the many artefacts they find, including pottery, coins and jewellery from various time periods, it is likely that Iron Age Man will be kept in a museum, both for further research and to educate generations to come about the life and times before ‘Modern Day Britain’.

HIDDEN CIRCLE

Not all finds get to be preserved. Dr Wood’s highlight of the fieldwork project at Wellwick Farm, so far, has been the uncovering of the so-called Timber Circle. “It was obviously made from wood, you could just make out the darker colour of what would have been posts,”

The giant circle at Wellwick Farm, with a member of the HS2 archaeology team standing next to each post hole.

she explained. “Initially, we assumed we had uncovered an old track during our trial trenching…. Then, one by one, the circle started forming before our eyes, until we had discovered post holes making up the clock positions all the way from 12 to 9 o’clock – it was fantastic, I really couldn’t quite believe it!”

The giant circle measured 65 metres across and was soon joined by a smaller inner circle. The complete picture led specialists to believe that this was a pagan monument assigned to the winter solstice. “Sadly, a lot of archaeological work is destructive by nature,” Rachel lamented. Whilst an exciting and important historical discovery, the excavation site will be filled in again: “There simply isn’t anything there to preserve.”

Discussions are ongoing though, as to how to remember these sorts of finds. “Perhaps a historic route plaque inside the trains,” pondered Mike, “or an exhibition in the station.”

One thing is certain, though, whatever the team discover and uncover in its painstaking work will be shared with local communities via information events and lectures, and in wider circles via research papers, journals, and updated web content. Museums will benefit from exciting new additions, which, it is hoped, will both entertain and educate young and old for many years to come.

ANOTHER TYPE OF CIRCLE

Many are in fact already keen to catch a glimpse when passing by what will become the intercity route’s most northern stop during Phase 1: Curzon Street station. Recent excavation work here uncovered the ruins of what is widely considered to be the world’s oldest roundhouse. It was designed by engineer Robert Stephenson in the 19th century, and became fully operational on 12 November 1837, making it almost two years older than the roundhouse in nearby Derby, which held the ‘world’s oldest’ title until now.

Curzon Street station was closed to passengers in the late 19th century, although it remained open for goods trains until 1966, when it was finally closed for good. With the go-ahead for the construction of the HS2 project came renewed interest in the history of the site and how to best preserve it: the designs for the new Curzon Street terminus, for example, will incorporate the existing historic Old Curzon Street building and link it to the new station’s eastern concourse at New Canal Street.

The roundhouse itself was situated adjacent to the old station, which was the first terminus serving the centre of Birmingham. Trial trenching revealed not only the remains of the original station’s roundhouse but also showed the circular base of the central turntable, the exterior wall and the radial inspection pits which would have surrounded the turntable. Work is ongoing to determine whether any of the remains can be preserved in-situ.

NEARING COMPLETION

Will this archaeological project ever end? When the Covid-19 crisis hit earlier this year, all sites had to be closed down in accordance with government guidelines, but Mike and Rachel are pleased that the fieldworks have now been allowed to restart, albeit with some adjustments in place, such as social distancing, shorter work time limits and adapted site offices.

With the exception of a few smaller areas, Mike still expects the field element of Phase 1 to be completed next year. Construction has already begun, of course – the reason for the first excavation sites having been at Curzon Street and St James’ Gardens is that building the stations takes much longer than the actual route itself. Construction follows archaeology in this once-in-a-lifetime project, but what happens if they find something so significant that it would really impact the originally planned route?

Mike reiterated: “For the past ten years, archaeologists have done preliminary deskbased research, field walking, used group penetrating radars, trial trenching and evaluation to understand what we have along the line of route. In the very unlikely event that we do find a site of historical/national importance, which we were not aware of, we have a process that would enable us to manage the site/discovery commensurate with cost and programme.”

Artefacts already uncovered span the last 20,000 years of our history – be it medieval pottery in Stoke Mandeville, prehistoric (from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods) tools and flint in the Colne Valley – Mike’s personal highlights as he likes to think about the megafauna and people who roamed those areas many millennia before us – a lead-lined Roman coffin or the world’s oldest railway roundhouse at Curzon Street: this really is a project like no other and is uncovering untold secrets right out of the ground beneath our feet!

Investigations at Coleshill, near Birmingham.

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS RAIL WEEK: YRP'S FLAGSHIP

INITIATIVE

LIKE MANY RAIL-INDUSTRY EVENTS, RAIL WEEK 2020 WAS THREATENED BY COVID-19. YRP ORGANISERS THEREFORE HAD TO TURN TO THE INTERNET... Rail Week, the brainchild of Young Rail Professionals, is an annual, pan-industry, collaborative effort, aimed at addressing the skills shortage in rail-related roles by educating young people on, and inspiring them to take-up, rail and engineering careers. YRP successfully launched Rail Week in 2016 and is delighted that it has been a key event in the rail industry calendar every year since. In October 2019, YRP’s Rail Week saw over 30 YRP rail ambassadors collaborate with over 100 organisations from across the rail industry - donating their time and resources to give young people, parents, teachers and careers advisors the opportunity to learn about the brilliant projects, facilities and range of jobs in the rail industry. Events included a public open day at Siemens Mobility’s Northam traincare facility, a tour of GTR’s Selhurst depot, a Network Rail-led event at King’s Cross station, train simulators, demonstrations and a talk on how engineers keep the London Tram system moving, all alongside a series of “Welcome to Rail” events hosted by YRP’s regional committees. In parallel, YRP created a dedicated Rail Week website, brimming with information about routes into rail, railway apprenticeships and how to become a YRP ambassador. There were also interactive educational games, videos and activity packs, made available by our collaborators. As a result of this immense effort, YRP’s Rail Week 2019 reached in excess of 3,500 young people.

RAIL WEEK 2020: STRATEGY

Accepting of the fact that this year’s Rail Week (5 – 11 October 2020) needed to take a different format due to COVID, but nevertheless unfazed by the challenge, YRP encouraged contributors and collaborators to bring the railway to kitchens and living rooms across the UK, by placing fresh emphasis on technology – supporters were encouraged to think along the lines of virtual depot tours, webinars, downloadable activities, engineering insights, Q&As, games and educational videos.

The tagline “Think virtual. Think online. Think live or pre-recorded. Think outside the box.” was designed to drive innovation and new ways of bringing learning opportunities to members and other young people.

Due to the uncertainty around COVID, and the lingering hope that there might be a chance of running at least some in-person events, planning commenced much later than other years – stoking the pressure, and desire, to make Rail Week 2020 a success!

And it seemed to pay-off...

RAIL WEEK 2020: PARTICIPANTS

At the time of writing, Rail Week 2020 was in full flow!

On top of the pre-planned events and activities, Rail Week was receiving incredible support (and, in some cases, spontaneous online event planning) from a whole host of companies and individuals in the UK rail industry.

It’s impossible to name everyone, but among those who joined in and showed their amazing support were Network Rail, HS2, Rail Delivery Group, Telent Technology Services, Primary Engineer, STM Group, Systra, 3Squared, SVM Glasgow, Community Rail Lancashire, Xrail Group, We Are Railfans, DB Cargo, Dynamic Group, Freightliner Group, Jacobs, Redstone Rail, Redstone Training, Unipart Rail, Railway Benefit Fund, Exeter College Apprenticeships/ GWR, Hitachi Rail, CrossCountry Trains, Sussex STEM and Kent Medway STEM, The National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), Women in Rail, Railway Industry Association, All About STEM, Rail Delivery Group, RailFreight.com, RPS, IET on Campus Strathclyde, Solent Stevedores, Hideaway Studios Group - Time-Lapse Systems, Gareth Dennis, Success at School, Ford & Stanley Group and Alstom!

RAIL WEEK 2020: PROGRAMME

With the World Wide Web at YRP’s fingertips, and with its previous online breakthroughs, the organisers knew there was scope for inventiveness, but nothing prepared them for the variety of events and activities that collaborators and supporters delivered.

To give a flavour, there were daily ‘a day in the life of a Network Rail engineer’ events; two virtual depot and freight train tours from Freightliner; webinars and panel discussions on equality, diversity and inclusion from Community Rail Lancashire, Jacobs, Railway Industry Association and Women in Rail; a ‘routes into rail’ discussion and a virtual hackathon with Rail Delivery Group; career insights in the form of podcasts and online case studies with DB Cargo; a session on working in rail and practising your faith (from new Rail Week participant, Muslims in Rail); and resource packs from Success at School, alongside various social media postings, profile contributions, videos and competitions.

A fuller description of the week’s activities will be posted on the YRP website in the near future.

HOPES AND THANKS

At the time of writing, it was too early to provide any ‘hard statistics’.

However, Rail Week 2020 definitely feels like a resounding success – a display of resilience and positivity; a milestone in YRP’s digital revitalisation; a revolution (forced upon us by COVID, but bringing benefits for the future) and a demonstration of togetherness within the rail industry family.

With the incredible support of its collaborators, YRP hopes it has: • provided and promoted some useful tools and insights to inform young people better about the roles and people in the rail industry; and • inspired young people to consider, and hopefully pursue, a rail career (with the eventual aim of closing the skills gap).

The organisers want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported Rail Week 2020; without them, it simply would not have been possible.

RAIL WEEK: WHAT’S NEXT?

Rail Week will return in October 2021 (dates TBC).

Hopefully, this year’s challenges will be a thing of the past. Equally, having now drawn on the power and potential of the internet and digital tools for this year’s Rail Week, YRP is keen to develop a hybrid offering of online and inperson activities during future Rail Weeks. Want to be involved in Rail Week 2021? Email Isabella. lawson@youngrailpro. com or rachael.thompson@ youngrailpro.com.

UNDERSTANDING IR35

AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE DELAY

IR35 - THE GOVERNMENT'S INTERMEDIARIES LEGISLATION AND PART OF ITS CLAMPDOWN ON TAX AVOIDANCE - IS DESIGNED TO ENSURE THAT 'OFF-PAYROLL' WORKERS PAY BROADLY THE SAME TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS AS EMPLOYEES.

Although delayed until April 2021, these new regulations, which apply if a worker or contractor provides services through their own limited company or another type of intermediary to the client, affect many railway workers. David James, who has been in the recruitment sector for 19 years, supporting clients with Personal Service Companies (PSC) and IR35, has shared his opinions with RailStaff.

IR35 is the common name given to the Intermediaries Legislation, which came into force from April 2000 and is the HMRC’s ‘test’ for self-employment for tax purposes when contractors are working through their PSCs. The name – IR35 – simply came about as it was announced in the Inland Revenue’s 35th press release following the 1999 budget.

The legislation is to distinguish between a genuine self-employed contractor, working via a PSC, and those whose working practices could suggest they operate more like an employee (who the HMRC call a ‘disguised employee’), so would fall inside IR35.

Genuine self-employed contractors, working outside of IR35, usually receive gross payments for their services via their PSC, allowing them to pay some of their income in dividends and other methods, which in turn creates a tax benefit. Working via a PSC will also reduce the amount of National Insurance (NI) payable.

Those contractors that fall inside IR35 – the ‘disguised employees’ – should pay broadly the same amount of tax and NI as an equivalent employee would.

© iStockphoto.com

While interacting with many PSCs, clients and IR35 working parties, it is interesting to hear what people say and work out on which side of the fence they sit with regards to IR35 taxation. It is usually either.

“The PSC should pay less tax as they have no employment rights (no sick pay, maternity/ paternity rights, redundancy pay, holiday pay, no notice, no claim for unfair dismissal)” or

“The PSC is seen as a ‘tax dodger’ and they should all pay the same tax and NI as an employee, regardless of having no employment rights.”

No doubt, this debate will always surround the PSC working model!

REASONS FOR CHANGE

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC, the new name for Inland Revenue), sought the change in off-payroll legislation because it apparently believed that it was missing out on a huge amount of taxable income from many PSCs (especially in NI contributions).

To make this extra tax income more accessible, and supposedly “improve the compliance” around contracting in the UK, HMRC decided to move the liability of the PSCs tax status away from the single-person

UNDERSTANDING IR35

AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE DELAY

PSCs and onto the medium and large businesses (known as the ‘end-users’) that engage them.

The ‘fee-payer’ (usually the recruitment agent who payrolls the PSC) can also be liable, depending on whether the end-user has proved to have exercised “reasonable care” when providing Status Determination Statements. Small businesses are exempt.

HMRC knows that, by getting medium and large businesses involved via a change in legislation, there will be a more stringent approach when assessing the PSC’s IR35 status, therefore more ‘disguised employees’ will be identified and changed to a PAYE solution, and taxation will rise.

Ironically, this was how HMRC originally wanted to manage the Intermediaries Legislation from April 2000. However, it was dropped after consultation as many businesses raised concern over the administrative burden – the same concerns that have re-emerged over the last 12 months and, possibly, the main reason there have been blanket decisions not to employ PSCs made by the large UK corporates.

The change in off-payroll rules provides a simpler, self-regulated formula for HMRC, which, it claims, saw an estimated additional £550 million in Income Tax and National Insurance contributions raised in the first 12 months after rolling this legislation out in the public sector. Before the deferral to April 2021, HMRC’s draft off-payroll legislation was forecasting an

increase in taxation of £3.1 billion from 20202024 within the private sector.

Two of the biggest concerns for endusers, prior to legislation change, were the subjective manner in which IR35 was interpreted and implied, and how to complete an assessment to show that all aspects of IR35 had been reviewed and followed.

HMRC introduced its CEST (check employment status for tax) tool in 2017, assuring taxpayers that it would accept the results if the questions had been answered correctly. Some areas of the public sector are still suffering with this tool (have a look at the NHS Digital problem with CEST). Even the updated version, released by HMRC in November 2019, has had plenty of criticism, including the fact it does not cover Mutuality of Obligation – a key factor of IR35.

In addition, the recent House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill SubCommittee’s report comments that CEST “falls well short of what is required”.

As a result of these well-publicised problems, end-users that engage PSCs had to look at other IR35 assessment methods, to make sure they could prove they had taken ‘reasonable care’ if challenged in an HMRC tribunal on a PSC’s IR35 status determination.

BANS AND DELAYS

This lack of education and support from HMRC on the whole matter (until the government’s review in January 2020, which then produced some online communication resources and Employment Status Manuals), plus the fines HMRC could impose on businesses due to incorrect status determinations (and the bad publicity attached to it), starts to explain why the big corporates just rolled out blanket bans on PSCs and wanted to engage PAYE-employees only from April 2020. It was just easier to do and mitigated the risk of an investigation.

Those businesses which did not impose blanket bans, and actually managed a process of assessing all their current PSCs, have had a huge amount of work to do, with minimal official guidance to help them. They have, however, had a wealth of private-sector ‘help’ available to them – both good and questionable. Plenty of so called ‘experts’ have appeared across The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting most industries and will do so for

social media and the press, claiming all sorts of ‘help and advice’ to businesses through this process. Some are better than others - Worley had some excellent support from Andy Webster’s team at Workr Compliance and Dave Chaplin’s team at IR35 Shield.

Also, during the nine months leading up to implementation of the amended legislation, the UK had a change in Prime Minister, the ongoing daily saga of Brexit, a general election (so a cancelled Autumn Statement) and then a new government. All of which attributed to a delay of the final legislation on IR35, which didn’t come out until the Budget on 11 March, just 27 days before the original implementation date. Everyone finally knew what was happening, and all the hard work, that companies had put in ready for implementation, paid off.

Then there was the delay that put rolling out the legislation back until 2021, which has been attributed to Covid-19. Interestingly, this delay wasn’t mentioned in the Budget on 11 March, but a week later, on 17 March. The delay was viewed as a minor win for those opposing the changes in legislation, with some claiming at the time that the government could scrap the legislation into the private sector altogether.

DEFERRAL

The 12-month deferral has created further confusion for businesses that engage with PSCs over liability and what they should be doing between now and April 2021. There is also concern from PSCs with regards to keeping their original ‘outsideIR35’ status, especially where the engaging business assessed them as being inside IR35 prior to April 2020.

In a nutshell, it is ‘business as usual’ until April 2021. Businesses do not have to determine the IR35 status of their PSCs, as this liability still sits with the PSC until that date. Any PSC would be well advised to go and get an assessment to prove their IR35 status, which they should have been doing each year anyway as good

working practice. some time. It is therefore important that all businesses use this deferral to the off-payroll legislation to help with stabilising their situation in the current climate, but they should still be planning ready for implementation in April 2021.

On Monday 27 April, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee published its report ‘Off-payroll working: treating people fairly’, and it was quite a damning one. The first summary paragraph suggests that the IR35 rules “have never worked satisfactorily” and concludes that “this framework is flawed” – not a great start. The report further criticises the government’s IR35 ruling in the public and private sector, providing yet more evidence for those who oppose the IR35 reform and claim that it is not fit for purpose.

On 19 May, David Davis MP tabled an amendment to the Finance Bill 2020-2021, proposing to delay the off-payroll measures until April 2023. However, his amendment failed to gain sufficient support from MPs.

IMMEDIATE ACTION

With the Off-Payroll legislation due to be rolled out in the private sector from April 2021, it is important that businesses use this time wisely to plan and get ready. They need to roll out procedures on PSC engagement (based on the new world from April 2021) and assess contractors to produce a status determination.

Businesses need to develop the methodology around the new process of engaging PSCs compliantly – to think about the changes they may need to make to engage PSCs under the new legislation, including audits to show any potential HMRC investigation that they have a fully compliant engagement process.

Blanket determinations are, arguably, in breach of the HMRC’s rules and they will do nothing but drive away PSCs and their flexible working practices. Instead, businesses should use the proven resources available (meaning resources that have actual experience of managing IR35 projects – not the so-called experts who have just read and produced a few LI articles and videos) and get themselves ready to use PSCs compliantly from April 2021. Do not panic or leave it all until 2021 and go for the blanket approach!

David James, engineering programme director for STR Group, has worked within the recruitment sector for over 19 years, supporting clients with their contract workforces. He has also been a working member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) since 2003. David first helped a public sector client with its IR35 strategy in 2016 and then assisted further private sector clients on IR35 from 2017.

He joined energy, chemicals and resources group Worley as its IR35 project manager in September 2019, to design and implement its IR35 strategy ready for the change in off-payroll legislation from April 2020 (now delayed by a year).