Client treating us as Permies

[malvolio]

Everything done for clients that takes away from my "time off" is chargable, dunno about others!

Agreed, but not the point. If you charge them for attending "social" events or training courses, you're making yourself part and parcel of the organsiation and hence significantly weakening your IR35 defence.

Your call, of course, but the sensible options are either don't charge or don't go.

[TheVoice]

Don't go then. It's probably full of zombie like company men

[thunderlizard]

If you charge them for attending "social" events or training courses, you're making yourself part and parcel of the organsiation and hence significantly weakening your IR35 defence.

Do you really think it's significant? If you're going on all the socials and training courses just because it's a tacit obligation, you're effectively part & parcel already. I wouldn't have thought that waiving your fee made any difference in that light.

Personally, if meetings are going to be completely woolly and irrelevant to my project I don't go to them. If they look tangentially relevant but I'm not directly benefiting the client as contracted (e.g. another consultancy is facilitating, rather than me) I tend to go but not charge. But that's to do with sticking to contract, nothing to do with IR35.