Contractor tax advisor, Qdos Contractor and global professional recruitment group, Hays, have developed a solution to work with IR35 reform, which allows regulatory reform to be managed effectively on scale, potentially protecting thousands of public sector contractors and numerous vital organisations.

Ensuring compliance with new reforms

IR35 reform was designed to guarantee that individuals who work through their own company pay employment taxes in a similar way to employees, where they would be employed were it not for working through an intermediary.The answer to the IR35 reform has already been put to use, with numerous central Government departments, local authorities and educational establishments all making use of the independent and impartial assessments.Notably, some organisations that initially made ‘blanket’ decisions that their entire population of off-payroll workers were inside IR35 have since started utilising the process.Having developed the tool together, Qdos Contractor now provides an outsourced compliance facility to Hays.Vitally, the solution allows public sector engagers to comply with the new reforms, enables fair and continued use of contractors working through personal services companies in the public sector. 

Why build the tool?

Seb Maley, CEO of Qdos Contractor explained, “This industry-first solution is proof that changes to IR35 in the public sector can in fact be managed on a large scale and when it matters. It has been built to protect each party, the contractor, the agency and the public sector engager. It is serving its purpose, and has been instrumental in making hundreds of determinations. “To ensure contractors aren’t unfairly determined inside IR35 it is vital that each engagement is looked at individually, and by experts. Blanket determinations and inaccurate IR35 decisions will simply deter contractors from working in the public sector entirely, severely impacting temporary hiring, while putting major public sector projects and services at risk. “While we are now a few months into public sector IR35 changes, many recruitment agencies and public sector organisations are still wondering what to do. Hays have been working tirelessly to ensure they can deal with the changes compliantly. Unfortunately, there is no ‘quick-fix’ to the changes. They helped shape the way we developed the process and the insurance, allowing us to create a solution that ensures all parties comply with their legal responsibilities, but are also able to make IR35 decisions based on detailed and expert advice. “Nearly half of UK employers expect growing candidate shortages in 2017, so needless to say, contractors are in high demand. I’m delighted Qdos Contractor has been able to provide a solution, and I am confident that this relationship will have a positive impact during times of uncertainty in public sector hiring.”

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Steve Witts, group head of tax and treasury at Hays, added, “Hays has been at the forefront of discussions with HMRC surrounding IR35 public sector reform, and has been working with our contractors and clients to help them understand and respond to the new legislation. Within the public sector the level of confusion surrounding this legislation remains high, and long-held misconceptions are potentially driving the behaviour of key influencers within the public sector supply chain.“Hays was swift to identify a potential future public sector client requirement for outsourcing the determination responsibility of which had been left to them, and therefore harnessed the expertise of Qdos Contractor in order to provide them with a seamless end to end service.“Hays entered into discussions with Qdos Contractor in the early summer of 2016 to formulate a compliant solution that would protect both the public sector organisation and Hays from both financial and reputational damage, while ensuring a rigorous, yet efficient, IR35 assessment process.”For related news and features, visit our Enterprise section.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory  Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit

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