Public sector contractors get new IR35 guide

An exclusive guide for ContractorUK on how contractors can navigate and comply with the public sector’s ‘IR35 assurance process’ has been updated.

Written by IR35 expert Kate Cottrell, the update takes into account the removal of the Business Entity Tests, which were a key part of the process until HMRC axed them last year.

Precisely how the process should work without BETs was spelt out in a March 2015 policy note by the Cabinet Office, but it was targeted at engagers, not the contractors it affects.

Cottrell’s guide aims to fill that gap, and uses clear language to spell out the scope of the process; what it means for PSC and umbrella contractors; how it works and what to beware.

“This guidance goes much further than the original and... affects all contractors where public sector money is involved,” says the guide, published separately today on ContractorUK.

“Contracts have been changed to include clauses giving the right for engagers to seek assurances... [so] it is not possible to simply ignore IR35 when working in the public sector.”