Kate Cotterell

[BlueSharp]

That is very sad news. When I first set out contracting Kate's advice in invaluable, my first contract review was done by her team at B&C.

[Lockhouse]

We had spoken many, many times over the years. A great loss to the contracting community. Thoughts with her family and friends at this time.

[Contractor UK]

A superb and insightful contributor to ContractorUK and the contracting community. This is very sad.

[mudskipper]

Sad news indeed.

[TestMangler]

Never met her but spoke to her once when an agency tried to tell contractors offered a new contract (which was full of red flags) that she'd reviewed it for them. She hadn't. She didn't mince her words when she found out her name and reputation were being used.

[Pondlife]

Terrible news. Used them for reviews back in the day and always very professional.

[northernladuk]

Very sad. Met her a few times at the awards. Imposing lady but very amicable and was a good laugh at the does. Well known in our circle so such a shame.

[ladymuck]

Oh crap. Sad news indeed.

I used her company for IR35 reviews a lot back when I first started - excellent service, they'd negotiate with the agency on your behalf and all that. She was lovely to deal with.

[cojak]

Oh dammit, that sad.

I had a happy interaction with her when I sent B&C a contract to review, only for her to call me back to thank me. Apparently B&C had been commissioned by a crappy agency pretending to be a consultancy, to create a bespoke contract template, which they then cancelled saying that they no longer needed the contract.

So imagine her surprise when I sent said contract to B&C to be reviewed…

[jamesbrown]

Oh, damn, that's sad.

Thanks for letting us know.

[malvolio]

For any of us who know who she is (and those who damned well should), I was sad to read on LinkedIn that Kate died earlier today after a short illness.

An ex-tax inspector, she set up Bauer and Cotterell in the early days of IR35, was one of the key players in the fight against the legislation and was one of those who created the various defences we have all been using over the last 20 years.

She went on to be invited on to the IR35 Forum and several other influential bodies.

Although I never met her in person, she and I crossed swords on occasion - always very amicably - and despite our often frequent disagreements on policy and approach, I for one had enormous respect for her work.