HMRC NHS guidelines being instituted! Abandon ship!

[Rabotnik]

I've been working at an NHS trust for 8 months (initially a 6 month contract which I renewed twice). My current renewal ends at the end of January.

A fellow contractor just informed me that last month she received an email from HR saying they were instituting the IR35 checks here . I knew these might be coming a few months ago, but I thought I could just quit if they ever hassled me (I should be outside IR35, but I'm not interested in handing my company documents over to them or speaking to HMRC's "IR35 helpline").

I didn't receive the email, so I don't know if I am in the firing line or not, but the kicker is that if you do not supply them with the necessary information, they will report you to HMRC! So quitting doesn't help.

I should be OK, but no way in hell I am renewing at the end of this month, and I would walk today but I don't have a notice period. Here is the email that was sent, which my colleague forwarded to me:
"Further to guidance for all public sector bodies in relation to the treatment of consultants and their tax arrangements by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), CLIENTNAME has conducted a review of its contractors and has established that the guidance from HMT and the associated tax reporting implications apply to you.

This is because you have provided services to CLIENTNAME for which you have been paid for those services via purchase order payment as either a sole trader, through a limited company or through your own limited company. As a result, CLIENTNAME must report to HMT on the status of your tax arrangements and therefore clarification on this matter is urgently required from you.

If CLIENTNAME does not receive any formal communication from you in this regard or if you do not provide the necessary assurances by Monday 7th January 2013, your details will be forwarded to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in accordance with the requirements set out by HMT."

[MyUserName]

How many company names are HMRC getting thrown at it at the moment?
How many investigators do they have that can actually investigate these things?

[bobspud]

My lot started this witch hunt just before chrimbo!

They made an utter balls up of the guidelines and as a result told 200 odd capita bods that they must have a contract review by HMRC. One of the chaps in the office called HMRC and explained what was going on and the guy on the end of the phone said: "They did f!cking did what??? We never told them to do that!!!!"

Good luck. I refused an extension and walked.

[Rabotnik]

My lot started this witch hunt just before chrimbo!

They made an utter balls up of the guidelines and as a result told 200 odd capita bods that they must have a contract review by HMRC. One of the chaps in the office called HMRC and explained what was going on and the guy on the end of the phone said: "They did f!cking did what??? We never told them to do that!!!!"

Good luck. I refused an extension and walked.

This is what I didn't get - they have a PDF attached to the email with more info and it says you have to do a Business Entity Test on the HMRC site and "If the business is medium or high risk according to HMRC’s
“business entity” tests but are outside the scope of IR35, then you will
need to provide assurance in a different way – for example, following a
contract review by HMRC’s independent IR35 helpline".

The IR35 helpline does contract reviews?

I haven't received the email personally, but I could be on a list somewhere, though there is no way I am going to HR to ask. If they want to send my name to HMRC so be it, I'm a PCG member, my contract has been reviewed and I've got deliverables and am not working in a team.

Incidentally, I was going to leave at the end of my 6 months since I anticipated this bollocks coming, but out of the kindness of my heart (and due to the quiet xmas period...) I renewed to get some extra stuff out the door by January.

They are already saying they want me here for Phase 2 of this project, but that ain't appenin'!

[MyUserName]

My lot started this witch hunt just before chrimbo!

Who are your lot? NHS, BBC?

[BolshieBastard]

Interesting but not surprising imo.

Saw a role advertised between christmas and NY, rate was £220 a day and 6 months plus was obviously a public sector client.

Another agent CBS, contacted me about a role near to home. Sent me the spec and it was clearly for DWP. Told agent I wasnt interested because of the government's implemented conditions to off payroll contractors.

Agent replied 'can you tell me more as Im not aware of these changes'!

Depressingly, expect more of the same.

[cojak]

Today I've had the satisfaction of replying to 2 unsolicited contract emails saying that I no longer bid for NHS contracts.

The rates were rubbish too...

[psychocandy]

Interesting but not surprising imo.

Saw a role advertised between christmas and NY, rate was £220 a day and 6 months plus was obviously a public sector client.

Another agent CBS, contacted me about a role near to home. Sent me the spec and it was clearly for DWP. Told agent I wasnt interested because of the government's implemented conditions to off payroll contractors.

Agent replied 'can you tell me more as Im not aware of these changes'!

Depressingly, expect more of the same.

I found that with an agent too. Tried to tell me that they knew nothing about the hassle because it was public sector.

I suppose from their point of view they want to make a contract sound great and not say 'its this much per day but dont forget you're going to have IR35 hassle'.

Not feeling sorry for them but public sector contracts always seem to pay crap anyway so this just makes them less attractive. Difficult to get people it seems.

[Qdos Contractor]

It's obviously a pain, but all of the public sector end clients we have dealt with are accepting evidence of a contractor's status from independent specialists, like us. The initial concern was that all public sector bodies would demand a contract review from HMRC, which simply wouldn't have been workable.

We've basically given contractors a full review of both the contract and working practices and then put it all in a 'certificate' type pack to pass to the end client. We've sent dozens of these out and haven't had any problems.

[Rabotnik]

It's obviously a pain, but all of the public sector end clients we have dealt with are accepting evidence of a contractor's status from independent specialists, like us. The initial concern was that all public sector bodies would demand a contract review from HMRC, which simply wouldn't have been workable.

We've basically given contractors a full review of both the contract and working practices and then put it all in a 'certificate' type pack to pass to the end client. We've sent dozens of these out and haven't had any problems.

I always get my contracts reviewed by you guys, so I was going to sling that email at them if they asked. The contractor that forwarded the email to me is bricking it since she works through an intermediary and has no contract. He is some kind of contractor who is acting as an agency, so she invoices him.

She is speaking to solicitors now about what to do.