IR35 - the end of a flexible workforce

[bhand5]

Labour in surprise pledge to scrap IR35 reform from April 2020

i've read this evening that Labour are now proposing to scrap the IR35 reform due to hit the private sector in April 2020. Personely i was planning on voting for the Conservative party so i have written to my Conservative MP to see if they too will change their stance.. Might be good if others did this too?

My Letter to my Conservative MP:

Good Evening x,

This evening it sounds like Labour are following in the footsteps of the Libdems and are prepared now to scrap the IR35 reforms due to be implemented in the private sector from April 2020.

Labour in surprise pledge to scrap IR35 reform from April 2020

This reform hugely effects the vast majority of colleagues I have ever worked with in the city over the past 20 years as an IT contractor.

It will also take it’s toll on businesses as many of its workers will be forced to move on to pastures new due to this new reform. I currently work for "X" and its astonishing to witness the risks the bank is being forced into taking by having to get rid of its most experienced staff due to the proposed ir35 reform. I can only imagine that the pain is felt harder for smaller businesses. This coupled with Brexit doesn’t seem to me like the best time to be implementing such reforms.

Please can you discuss this matter with your colleagues and let me know if the Conservative party are prepared to also change its position on the proposed IR35 legislation due to come in effect to the private sector from April 2020.

For the moment, my vote has to now go to labour and I can see many others on my contractor forums sharing the same views now.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

[PTP]

RE: Bhand5

You are wasting your time/breath

The Labour bloke has clearly made statements they won’t honour, hence why all of his tweets regarding that got deleted (the press are a bit slow at recognising).

Plus, with all the changes they are proposing with dividend and corporation tax, you are better off/just as well off inside ir35.

So don’t waste your time, nor your vote!

[Amanensia]

Plus, with all the changes they are proposing with dividend and corporation tax, you are better off/just as well off inside ir35.

This.

[NeedTheSunshine]

Regardless of whether you're better off inside IR35 than Labour's plans, you're still wasting your time writing to your MP. One of the aides will read it and might give a generic reply if you're lucky. The only way to make any impression/impact on MPs is to see them in person at one of their constituency surgeries.

[simes]

I would also like to know which telco is being rumoured... obvious candidates seem to be:

BT
Vodafone
Virgin Mobile
O2
EE
Sky

Anyone else heard about this?

For context:
“ ContractorUK is looking into claims that a nuclear waste company and a leading telco are the latest engagers to try to remove themselves from the scope of the draft IR35 legislation by ceasing to engage PSCs altogether.”
Source: Contractors’ end-clients handed IR35 reform checklist

And Vodafone it is.

Having been there twice, this news does not surprise me. Of all the telcos, Voda is the least interesting in every way. Nothing Ever got delivered there as bureaucracy, red tape, politics, changes of leadership every three weeks left everyone afraid of their own shadows.

So, in summary, their not having access to flexible workforces won't in any way trip up their delivery track record.

However, I do wonder if like the banks, this will start a telco stampede to side step the reform. Or, if the other telcos have a little more backbone, breadth of shoulder and wherewithal to look at it properly.

[Jolie]

For the moment, my vote has to now go to labour and I can see many others on my contractor forums sharing the same views now.

Really?

There will always be idiots on these forums who vote for Labour regardless of how much harm it will do to them, but the fact that the UK is actually not doing that badly will far outweigh the complete shambles that will happen if Labour get into power.

Even though most people hate Bojo and his pals, myself included, they won't vote in a party that will completely wreck the economy, again.

Also you have to bear in mind who invented IR35 in the first place. As much as I hate what Hammond & co have done with the reforms, it doesn't remove the opportunities to work outside IR35 completely, they have simply tightened the noose and shifted the determination away from the contractor.

Yes there have been some knee jerk reactions from large companies, but there are some of us still getting good outside contracts, or clients willing to work with us to find other solutions.

Not that it matters to me, because I am running to the desert, but had it been an issue then I would vote Tory without hesitation.

[bhand5]

Are Political parties changing their stance on IR35 or just trying to gain more votes

It appears that the main political parties are all now offering a review on proposed IR35 legislation for the private sector but can they be trusted to do so and is any such pledge fruitless given the time left before implementation?

Will big businesses hold out for any such review before making meaningful changes?

What are peoples thoughts on this?

[JohntheBike]

It appears that the main political parties are all now offering a review on proposed IR35 legislation for the private sector but can they be trusted to do so and is any such pledge fruitless given the time left before implementation?

Will big businesses hold out for any such review before making meaningful changes?

What are peoples thoughts on this?

you can't trust any of them, they are all liars.

[swamp]

Will big businesses hold out for any such review before making meaningful changes?

No, the damage has been done.