IR35 compliance question - agency says contract is immutable

[kingcook]

Surprised no-ones pointed out the obvious here...

That is - don't believe the agency they're trying it on. All they want is you signed up with the minimum of fuss and time expended.

^ This is so true.

Happened to me recently. Agent wanted me to sign that very day and return the contract to them. I politely informed them that I need to get it checked.

Got the usual "never had problems with other contractors" malarkey. He also said that they don't like to wait around and this could be offered to another contractor if I kept them waiting (not his exact words but somthing along those lines).

I just said he'd only have to wait a short while, but it's absolutely necessary from my POV. He waited and it all worked out OK.

[northernladuk]

Perversely it could work in your favour.

If the written contract really is immutable then it suggests it is of reduced relevance in reaching a IR35 decision cf a contract which had been neogotiated bespoke.

Even HMRC would admit IR35 doesn't cover every situation, but if the agency are trying to sweep everyone into a immutable contract, ipso facto that written contract becomes marginalised.

I am not so sure about that. I see the theory but I haven't seen this considered in any cases whatsoever. I can't really see how an agent not willing to change a contract makes one iota of difference. It surely cannot be in your favour if the contract falls inside IR35 immutable or not. It is a contract put forward by the agency, take it or leave it. I can't see how that will affect any legal argument at all. Am I missing something here?

[insomniac]

Wow, thank you for the amazing feedback. This has been very, very helpful.

[craig1]

A further thing to consider if they do get very stubborn about it, if the client is just using the agency as an intermediary so that they aren't directly contracting with your company then you could tell the agency that you'll just go with another agency on the client's PSL.

As an aside though, some of these agencies work on abysmally low fixed margins so they have no incentive to be nice to you on contractual items such as payment terms. Make sure you're not signing up to stupidly long terms. One such arrangement I worked on had the agency on 4% fixed margin and they tried to get me to sign up to monthly bill and 6 week payment terms. I did get them down to weekly bill/weekly pay through using the threat to go to another PSL agency but it was very, very hard work managing them throughout the contract and getting my money.