Amidst the headlines throughout the weekend following the chancellor's announcements in the ‘Mini-budget’ and in particular the news concerning IR35, there have been a lot of headlines announcing IR35 regulations are to be ‘repealed’ in the United Kingdom.

However, that is not what Kwasi Kwarteng said. IR35 will remain and those who HMRC believe to be engaged in 'disguised employment' will be pursued. Proper IR35 status determinations will still be the prudent step to take for contract / interim workers.
What the Chancellor committed to in the budget is to repeal the legislative changes to IR35 of 2017 (for the Public Sector) and 2021 (Private Sector) that shifted the responsibility for making the IR35 status determination to the End Client.

If this is delivered upon, the responsibility for determining IR35 Status will revert to the Contractor themselves. Compliant and responsible contractors will still participate in role-specific IR35 determinations, as will compliant and responsible recruitment companies such as Stanton House.

This decision is surprising but very positive news for the Interim Community and for organisations that rely on interim workers. The 2017/2021 changes caused huge disruption to the flexible labour supply chain in the UK and massive distress to many workers.  Furthermore, this change will remove a degree of risk and ambiguity for businesses that engage contractors. 

Repealing the 2017/2021 legislation will also lessen the risk of genuinely self-employed workers being negatively impacted by the underlying off-payroll rules. I am delighted that this announcement will make working life less stressful for a large number of our customers.

No doubt there will be more news to come on this in the coming months!