IR35 Bites Back

IR35 Bites Back image

IR35 has led to a swathe of consultants ditching work for Central Government and Local Authorities (plus private companies wholly Council owned).

No one at the Inland Revenue or in Government appears to recognise that such self-employed consultants have none of the security and benefits of being an employee which Council staff take for granted, such as full pay whilst absent from work (up to 6 months with a doctor's certification), other health care package benefits, annual leave entitlements, etc. etc.  The idea that it is legitimate to encourage consultants to be engaged via umbrella companies or for the employing body to be more 'flexible' in the answers they give to the Inland Revenue's on-line assessment tool appears both disingenuous and more akin to tax evasion, not avoidance.

Happily, we now see lucrative Government IT contracts being offered with 'OUTSIDE IR35' in bold capitals ... when we were all told these sorts of contracts were the one's which motivated the Government and thus the Inland Revenue to extend the provisions of IR35 in the first place.