“As the news that IR35 reforms have been given the green light for April 2020, it’s more pressing than ever that organisations ramp up their preparations. We can no longer hope for a delay so organisations who don’t start to take this seriously are at risk of being exposed to increased costs and workloads, as well as a loss of key talent.
If contractors aren’t happy with the approach organisations take, such as those who have taken blanket approaches, it is highly likely they will jump ship which means the organisation will lose talent. Of course, there will also be some who will sit tight to see the initial effect of the reforms, so it might take some time to see the true impact.
Although the government’s new changes include that customers will not have to pay penalties for errors relating to off-payroll in the first year, they will still have to pay unpaid tax, so the reality is there isn’t any leniency. The final legislation will only be published 11 working days before the reforms come into effect, so we hope HMRC delivers on its promise to re-issue guidance on the reforms for both organisations and contractors who remain unsure on how to adhere to the legislation.
In lessons learnt from the public sector, organisations that weren’t prepared lost highly skilled contractors to organisations who were, which in turn impacted their reputation with contracting talent and delayed several projects. Put simply, organisations need to treat the IR35 reforms as a priority to still be in a position to attract key talent in a skills-short market.”