Recent advice aimed at technical and engineering contractors working in the oil and gas industries has a good deal of relevance for all UK Ltd Company contractors. The legal and commercial director of the energy recruiter NES, Stephen Rookes, was speaking at a breakfast seminar in the Marcliffe Hotel in Aberdeen, addressing the likely impact of the forthcoming Agency Workers Regulations on the UK’s contractor workforce. But anyone keen to avoid getting mired in IR35 legislation would do well to listen to his comments, which were published in the Scottish newspaper, “The Press and Journal,” earlier this week.
Rookes was adamant that Ltd Company contractors need to be very clear about how to keep themselves safely clear of the IR35 net. To start with, he insisted that you never set yourself up as a “person” if you want to keep the IR35 police at bay – you need to be seen unambiguously as a professional B2B service instead. To make sure you’re not categorized as an employee, you also need to ensure that your service can be covered by another provider (employees aren’t permitted to do this).
Other key markers to differentiate you from employee status are to use your own judgement about how you provide a service, ensure your work is of a satisfactory standard and get yourself covered with appropriate liability or professional indemnity insurance. And at all costs, don’t become an honorary or “deemed” employee. That means declining the invitation to become the company fire warden, never using the company email address and passing up on attending those compulsorily “merry” Christmas parties.
