exhaust blowing

I have a 1.8 petrol freelander and the exhaust has been blowing for a while but have ignored it however the MOT is now coming up. The hole is in the middle box (roughly in the middle of the vehicle and before the main back box) - is this a catalytic converter ?
the hole is too big to patch up so i was wondering if i really need it ? can i not put a pipe straight though or would this cause issies to the engine or emmissions ?

any ideas ?

no it's not a cat, just a centre box, you can replace it with a straight through pipe if you want.

hi could you put a straight throw pipe on a td4? so it would just be the cat on it, or would u have to but a little back box on it