Agency Workers Regulations and IR35

[Wanderer]

I am sorry if this is a hackneyed topic but a search on this site for AWR showed nothing and I am curious.

Well, it has come up the odd time but there was surprisingly little said about it. There is a discussion here. LisaContractorUmbrella wrote some interesting posts about the regs from time to time (perhaps biased slightly towards umbrellas ).

I get the feeling that agencies have their head in the sand about it. In many ways it will be a good thing because they will have to buck up their ideas about working practices.

Certainly, I could imagine a contractor who got IR35 caught coming after the agency with a grievance under the agency regulations...

[Steven@Parasol]

I have no comment about Germany and AWR.
But the situation and history of each country is different, isn't it?

In my opinion, that is the problem with regulations that come from Brussels. They have the 'one size fits all' approach and it is never suitable for all the countries the regulation covers.

I think you can look closer to home then that Alan.

A lot of the legislation introduced to our industry in recent years makes no distinction between the vulnerable agency workers that absolutley need protecting and the highly skilled individuals sites like this represent who are in business of their own accord and just want to be left alone to get on with it.

[contractoralan]

Interestingly, its only the UK that has a negative slant on this. Some countries such as Germany feel this is a way of stopping cheaper overseas labour from coming into a market and undercutting the locals.

I have no comment about Germany and AWR.
But the situation and history of each country is different, isn't it?

In my opinion, that is the problem with regulations that come from Brussels. They have the 'one size fits all' approach and it is never suitable for all the countries the regulation covers.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Actually AWR works alongside IR35 - if you fall outside the scope of one, you fall outside the scope of the other. The assessment is also made in the same way, so it will depend on your working practises rather than what may be written in your contract. So the upshot is - if you are outside IR35 the Agency Worker Regulations will have no impact on you but if you are inside you will have the right to the same basic conditions as a perm employee

HTH

Hi Steve

[Steven@Parasol]

Obviously I am not impartial but the true umbrella companies, the ones that have been employment led solutions as opposed to tax led, have been doing eight tenths of what the legislation requires anyway so for us it very much is a positive.

Contractors working via an umbrella that is offering a swedish derogation solution will also get extra benefits such as pay between assignments and assistance to help find their next assignment.

Interestingly, its only the UK that has a negative slant on this. Some countries such as Germany feel this is a way of stopping cheaper overseas labour from coming into a market and undercutting the locals.

Contractor Calculator have published 5 white papers in the last month which explain the legislation and Ive posted a link to the last one here.

Apologies but our CEO is quoted in it.


Lisa from Contractor Umbrella has been hosting a really good linked in group on all things AWR that is worth reading through and this blog might be useful to you too.

Understanding AWR - Agency Workers' Regulation Information

I've also got an AWR YouTube channel which has a number of videos explaining different aspects of the legislation. Is it OK to post a link here or is that too spammy?

[Greg@CapitalCity]

Certainly I think AWR will shift the attitudes of the clients who use the services of contractors. Whereas previously a contractors IR35 status fell with the contractor to defend, post-AWR it will become important for clients too, to consider the IR35 position of their contractors as it may have AWR implications for them.

Also, have a think about setting the record straight with your client. If they believe you are outside of IR35 (so AWR does not apply), and you think you are caught by IR35 (so AWR does apply)....well, you get the idea of what could happen there.

[MikeToml]

I am sorry if this is a hackneyed topic but a search on this site for AWR showed nothing and I am curious.

My current contract is inside IR35 though I think the client believes I am claiming it is outside, and I do my best to encourage this because regardless of the tax aspect, I don't want to be any more controlled than I have to be. A month or so ago there was some internal questioning related to AWR, which made me think about the matter.

From the relative lack of discussion here about it I might think no one is concerned, but I did get the impression AWR was of some concern.

My real point is: actually, isn't AWR a good thng? My limited impression based on reports of IR35 cases in the past is that typically a client hires a contractor because they don't want the responsibilities that come with an employee, yet as soon as an IR35 investigation occurs they tell HMRC they regarded the contractor as an employee. HMRC wins and the client doesn't suffer any penalty.

It seems to me that AWR actually creates a genuine downside to the client if they treated the contractor as an employee. So I might hope that in future they will not just say whatever is convenient for HMRC, and they might even go out of their way to treat contractors differently.

What do you guys think?