Contracting News

The cheered-on Covid Corruption Commissioner is set to back strictness for taxpayers and leniency for the taxman (not vice versa), as seen in Ark Angel Ltd v HMRC.

Nineteen ‘exceptional’ companies, six ‘highly commended’ providers, and two individuals. All just got acknowledged as going ‘the extra mile’ for UK IT contracting.

Rigour mortis will surely set into the umbrella industry before April 6th 2026 -- potentially the point of death for umbrellas as we know them today.

The temporary tech jobs market gets a ‘glimmer’ to offset the ‘dire’, but it’s hardly thanks to the chancellor.

There’s no final bill or liability admission. But the Welsh government agency set up to sustainably manage the environment clearly didn’t manage off-payroll worker status properly.

A seemingly small Autumn Budget announcement is actually a big concern, and it’s not even the nearly double-figure rate that’s unsettling.

The definitive guide to eight ‘easy target’ areas the Labour chancellor is hitting to raise many extra billions.

A day looks like a long time in leaky Budget politics, or so suggests the global market reaction to Rachel Reeves being at the helm.

A ‘smiling,’ ‘slashing’ and ‘butchering’ Rachel Reeves 'squeezes the juice from business while not giving enterprise much to get on with business.'

Rachel Reeves unveils a Budget to ‘restore economic stability’ and ‘rebuild Britain.’

Change for contractors and contractors’ workplaces is incoming -- next year, October 2026, and potentially even today too.

Vindicated for its 'reasonableness,' an NHS supplier won’t have to pay our unsympathetic taxman a £250,000 penalty for a late VAT return.

The first Labour Budget in 14 years is imminent, but what’s expected from chancellor Rachel Reeves and what do contractors need to see unveiled?

What the Supreme Court's employment status ruling means for the IR35 factors Control and MoO, and even Status Determinations under OPW.

Seven takeaways from the 15 month-coming ‘Mutuality’ case, where the final whistle on the referees’ status may still be pipped at the post by a rematch.

Over a dozen arrangements ‘named and shamed’ by the taxman, including one with reserves so low that contractors must be in the frame.

For contractors and other taxpayers, even celebrities, the government's reach growing is (for once) something to get behind.

IR35, umbrella regulation and Single Worker Status. Labour puts it all off until tomorrow, so it can keep its promise to the masses today.

The early bird catches the worm. Or does it? Harvey Nash answers for ContractorUK.

Autumn Budget’s bung on tech staff hiring is being shored up by the Employment Rights bill and Industrial Strategy.

Despite now being blocked, the voice of rugby’s outside IR35 attempt passes on key lessons for tackling the hypothetical contract’s complexity.

What will make government happy on October 30th will make UK homeowners happy, too. At least that’s the theory.

Contractors, have you got a substitution policy document, outlining how the supply chain would deal with you enacting your RoS?

The latest public sector IR35 bill is pretty swingeing -- but the overall trend suggests public sector bodies are getting to grips with the OPW rules, after seven long years.

It’s clear HMRC has learnt from its enforcement work in the public sector, before HS2 and as a direct result of it. Don’t leave your own learnings to the last.

The taxman’s ‘naming and shaming’ just passed a major milestone, mirroring ‘increasing concern about umbrella supply chains.’

Maybe the contractor industry should just take the hint, because despite a Green Paper back in 2022, SWS appears to have gone missing -- for now.

The unknown of October 30th and an opaque Employment Rights Bill are keeping IT 'recruitment and investment plans on hold.'

The CV & Interview Advisors previews its Thursday webinar on how to find contracts that are both unadvertised and high-paying.

One of the many wrongs of the Kiernan Hughes-Mason case is how candidate criminal history checks got characterised.

Tech job adverts specifying the pay in words, rather than numbers, aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Concerned for their wellbeing, Australia just gave employees a right to disconnect. Maybe the UK should do the same, but for its freelance consultants too.

Five bites of the cherry to get its subsistence expenses deductions approved have now failed for the brolly.

Four out of four advisers fear the smart money of Rachel Reeves’ first fiscal statement is on an increase to corporation tax for limited companies.

A former ‘best IT contractor recruitment agency’ talks of repositioning and restructuring, in wake of its profitability taking a ‘significant’ dent.

Better outcomes, value for money, and improved prospects. That, at least, is the three-fold pledge of the chancellor’s now-underway rethink on retirement savings.

Delays, a reluctant Revenue, and extra work for contractor accountants -- all things that a frank impact assessment of hiking the tax return threshold should have said.

Labour looks set to crackdown on CJRS fraud, meaning Laser Byte Ltd won’t be the last to get bitten in court by HMRC.

Taxman says seven avoidance schemes (all employment tax-related) should be avoided, even though contractors often have ‘little choice’ but to use them.

As able as it may be at causing belligerent responses, HMRC won’t be keyboard-warriored into changing procedure backed by statute.