Reply to: How can you work at the BBC outside IR35?

[Fred Bloggs]

That is not the point.

If you have to be at a particular place and time because the boss says so, that is direction and control.

If you have to be at a particular place and time because you couldn't do the work otherwise, that is nothing to do with direction and control.

BBC boss - You need to be sat in that chair there at 9.00pm to read this script we have prepared for you. It will take 20 minutes to read it.

So called freelance news reader - I feel like reading the news at 8.30pm today. I'll read it sat in my favourite chair at home. It's OK, I'll still deliver it to the usual quality, on time and to budget as per contract.

Hmmm........ No D&C at the BBC when reading the news?

[Ignis Fatuus]

Surely they're IR35 caught? If I want to sit at home and do my work then I do so unless there are other compelling reasons why I go to the office. Can't do that reading the 9 O'Clock news on the BBC!

That is not the point.

If you have to be at a particular place and time because the boss says so, that is direction and control.

If you have to be at a particular place and time because you couldn't do the work otherwise, that is nothing to do with direction and control.

[Wanderer]

The BBC are probably not their only client. There's probably a ton of other stuff going through the books to muddy the waters.

Doesn't matter though, because each contract is assessed on it's merits - Some may be IR35 caught while others aren't. Personal appearances and after dinner speeches are probably going to be outside but turning up on time and reading the news is a disguised employee thing isn't it.

[Gonzo]

The presenters will have multiple income streams from multiple concurrent contracts. They are hardly bum on seat contractors.

Besides, in this case the paper is quoting inflated expenses and undeclared income as being the issue, nothing to do with IR35.

[BlasterBates]

Yes but Richard Quest on CNN's "Quest means Business" often has a stand in. Surely there are stand ins for the 9 o clock news.

[Sockpuppet]

Mr Lunn is now at the centre of a HMRC investigation. It is alleged in court documents that he defrauded the Exchequer out of a total of £117 million.

Tax authorities claim the firm filed fraudulent tax returns for “most if not all” of its clients. Mr Lunn, a former bankrupt, is not registered with any professional accounting body.

He is claimed to have inflated accountancy fees, claimed expenditure with no documentation and omitted income from his clients’ tax returns. HMRC wrote three times to the Olivers, of Chiswick, west London, in July, August and September last year to inform them of the allegations after Mr Lunn was arrested and his offices raided in June. All of Mr Lunn’s 7,000 customers were contacted.

I'm not sure this is much to do with IR35 but just plain and simple fraud.

[configman]

Surely, being a regular presenter on the BBC means you are subject to direction and control and cannot send a substitute worker?

If I remember correctly journalists were given special dispensation from IR35 - no doubt this being the reason it got so little press coverage. I always remember IR35 being raised on Question Time and Dimbleby quickly asked for another question without anyone having a chance to answer the IR35 question.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

The BBC are probably not their only client. There's probably a ton of other stuff going through the books to muddy the waters.

I knew a contractor a few years ago who ran a lingerie shop. Everything went through the shop's books including his IT work.

Another guy I knew put everything through his fish and chip shop.

[Hex]

They're probably OK with regard to Mutuality of Obligation though aren't they? You can't see them saying to a newsreader that they require them to appear on next week's Doctor Who and the newsreader having to agree.

[northernladuk]

Surely they're IR35 caught? If I want to sit at home and do my work then I do so unless there are other compelling reasons why I go to the office. Can't do that reading the 9 O'Clock news on the BBC!

I dunno though. If your contract is to present the 9 O Clock news you are just fulfilling your role. And the fact they can't substitute isn't because they are not allowed to. Most substitutions say with a reasonably qualified person able to complete the role. There cannot be too many news readers around and short notice. Isn't the fact they can't substitute due to lack of resource to meet client requirements different to they are not allowed to substitute at all?

I think this is a pretty complicated one.

[Fred Bloggs]

AIUI the crucial question is whether you have to be there at a particular time because the work demands it, or just because the boss says so.

Surely they're IR35 caught? If I want to sit at home and do my work then I do so unless there are other compelling reasons why I go to the office. Can't do that reading the 9 O'Clock news on the BBC!

[Ignis Fatuus]

Thanks, it seems to me they fail at least two of what have become the three key tests of substitution and D&C without a doubt. I mean, the 9 O'Clock news goes out when the BBC says and sits where the BBC says, not when/where the presenter decides. The presenter can't send in a subby either, surely?

AIUI the crucial question is whether you have to be there at a particular time because the work demands it, or just because the boss says so.

[Fred Bloggs]

Announcer: "I'm afraid Susanna Reid couldn't be with us today, but instead, here's the nine o'clock news with her friend Nigel the shelf stacker from Wood Lane's local Aldi"

[thunderlizard]

The presenter can't send in a subby either, surely?

I don't see why not. Obviously I'm biased, but I reckon I could source people who look decent in front of an autocue much more easily than C++/Sybase etc. programmers. They seem to swap around like nobody's business as it is.

[hyperD]

Announcer: "I'm afraid Susanna Reid couldn't be with us today, but instead, here's the nine o'clock news with her friend Nigel the shelf stacker from Wood Lane's local Aldi"