The first 3 steps to take on your IR35 journey

* Please note this article and video were created before the date of implementation was pushed back to 6 April 2021*

IR35 is due to come into force in the private sector on 6 April 2021. To help you on your journey to compliance, we've created a short video detailing the first three steps you should take.

IR35 is due to come into force in the private sector on 6 April 2021. For many, this is a time of confusion and concern, and many don’t yet have a clear plan on how to achieve IR35 compliancy. But if handled correctly, the new legislation can prove to be a big opportunity for your business.

There are a number of steps you can take which will help make you IR35 compliant and this can seem a little daunting. To help you with this, we have created a short video detailing the first three steps you should take.

Step 1 – Understand IR35

Step one is all about finding out how your business is going to be affected by the changes. This is critical so you can assess how much risk your business is exposed to, and how much effort is required to get prepared in good time.

Gattaca has a couple of tools to help you with that:

• Our IR35 Impact Assessment Tool – a 5 minute tool to give you an initial overview of the impact IR35 will have on your business.
• A free, 30-minute IR35 Overview to get yourself fully educated on the reforms. You can book in this consultation with no obligations here.

Step 2 – Form a working group

Having got yourself up to speed with IR35, it is very important that you set up a steering group within your business.

This group will need the authority to make decisions relating to the legislation, and the make-up of this team is important. We recommend the group should include representation from:

• Senior decision makers
• HR
• Procurement
• Finance
• Legal
• IT
• Internal communications
• Front line business teams

This group will be responsible for protecting your business through this change, so it is vital all parties understand the reform. We offer a facilitated, bespoke workshop to bring your working group together and explore the reform’s impact in greater detail specifically around your business.

Step 3 – Start the process of identifying your total contractor population

So, now you know the impact of IR35 to your own business and you’ve built a team to handle the change internally, you will need to start capturing the data of your contractor population to enable you to make informed decisions.

And by data, we mean being able to ask questions such as:

• How many contractors do you currently engage?
• Where do they work?
• Who manages them?
• How are they engaged?
• What systems are they held on?

This is the third of the initial 3 steps to take, and, as you can see, the one that can take a considerable amount of time and effort to implement. Ask yourself if you have the time and resources to carry out this audit, or whether it’s a better option to outsource this to a solutions provider. Using our 18 years’ experience in workforce solutions.  

Gattaca has a proven track record over 18 years delivering contingent worker/assignment data capture and audit solutions through our flexible and total workforce solution offerings, so talk to us about how we can help.

Wrap-up

As we’ve touched on, there are a number of hoops to go through before you can become IR35 compliant, but if you were to do anything at all, we would recommend you carry out these first three steps as soon as possible.

We are recommending that our clients have at least carried out these 3 steps before the release of the draft legislation in late summer 2019. Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like to discuss this in more detail.