When will I know the outcome of my IR35 Assessment?

Status reviews will be completed once you are on site, you should receive a link to Qdos within the first couple of days of starting on our project.

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Are Methods revising their contract templates?

Our contract templates were amended back in March 2020 to make them more IR35 compliant. Should there be any further changes we will issue these updated via variation letters when your contract is extended.

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Who will complete my IR35 status review at Methods?

If you are working for Methods on a Project, then this is be assigned to an internal Project Manager who will be ensuring all IR35 assessments are completed.

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The Project Manager will be asking you to complete a questionnaire regarding your work practices so that we have the best understanding of what you are doing on-site so that we can come to the correct IR35 status.

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Your Project Manager will liaise with you when we are ready for your status review to be completed.

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I have already done an IR35 assessment which ruled me outside IR35, so why does another one need to be done?

This change does not change your IR35 assessment, it just changes who does the assessment.  As long as your/our role has not changed in a way which might give a different result, then your status should not change. However, if you are working with us on one of our outsourced services, we are now obliged to do an assessment on all work that happens after 6 April 2021.

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Are Methods planning on paying contractors working up to the end of March early?

As there is no need to do this as a result of the changes, contractors will be paid at the normal time.

HMRC have already confirmed that only services provided from 6 April 2021 will be affected by the new IR35 rules. Therefore, any invoices paid for March work will not fall under the new rules.

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What criteria are used to determine if a role is inside or outside IR35?

IR35 status assessments are best associated with the SDC criteria (Supervision, Direction and Control), however, there are many other factors that contribute to your IR35 status. Other things that are looked at include: who is supplying the IT, is a contractor clearly identifiable on a name badge or email address set up, is the client obliged to offer the contractor work, does the contract have a fixed end date, can the contract be reassigned to other work by the client, is substitution allowed, is the contractor given specific training to complete the role.

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What happens if my IR35 status is assessed as "Inside"?

To continue to work with Methods, where your IR35 status is "Inside", we will require you to supply your services via an Umbrella company. We have a preferred suppliers list which you can view here.

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Why are Methods not always going to do the IR35 Assessments

The new rules require the "end client" in a supply chain to do the assessment. For the purposes of the legislation, this is the company that is providing a service to its clients rather than just supplying labour as an intermediary. That assessment requires us to assess the substance of the work we are doing for our clients. If this is judged to be in substance the supply of labour, we will be asking our client to do the assessments.

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I work with one of your public sector clients. I thought this change only applied to the private sector. Why am I impacted?

We are a private sector company with mainly public sector clients. We provide 2 types of service for our clients: ·

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• We sell outsourced services with contract defined outcomes to our clients and engage with contractors to deliver those services alongside our own staff ·

• We act as an intermediary providing contractors to the public sector who work directly with our public sector clients

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If you have been engaged to work with us on one of our outsourced services, you have been engaged to work with a private sector company and we are now obliged to perform the IR35 assessments from 5 April 2021.

 

If you have engaged by us as an intermediary working directly with our public sector clients, then you are not affected by the change. These engagements come under the 2017 rules for the public sector and our client remains responsible for doing the IR35 assessment.

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What constitutes an “outsourced service”?

HMRC have declined to define an “Outsource Service” for the purposes of this legislation. We are therefore reliant on case law and it is a question of the substance of the engagement with our client, not the form (i.e. even if the contract defines work packages if the true nature of the contract is really the supply of labour as an intermediary, then the form of the contract will be ignored).

 

The following factors affect whether something can be classed as an outsourced service:

 

1. There is a tender process

2. Workers are not managed directly by the Client

3. The Client does not decide who will be completing the work, or the number of people needed

4. The Client terms do not name individual workers

5. The Client does not approve CVs of the individuals working on the project

6. The Client is invoiced for a fixed price or service, rather than individuals

7. The Client does not have control of how the work is completed.

8. The Client contract states a Service is being provided

9. There are fixed outcomes in the Client contract

10. The workers are not treated like or appear to be, employees of the Client.

 

From 6 April 2021, we will have to assess every project we do for a client to see whether or not it is an outsourced service. If it is an outsourced service, Methods has to perform IR35 assessments on all contractors engaged to deliver the service. If it is not then our client has to perform them, whether that client is in the public or private sector.

 

Please remember that just because Methods is providing an outsourced service to our client, it does not mean contractors are automatically outside IR35. All it means is we have to do the IR35 assessment rather than our client.

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Why do I do Qdos with Methods but someone else who works at the client as a contractor through Methods has not needed to?

We only complete assessments for our contractors who have been engaged to work with us on projects which are defined as outsourced services and are therefore affected by this change. We do not complete assessments for contractors engaged by Methods as an intermediary to work directly with our Public Sector clients, as they are not affected by this change and IR35 assessments done by our client are still valid in law.

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Are there any other changes?

Yes – From 6 April 2021, every contractor must receive a formal Status Determination Statement when an IR35 assessment is run on their engagement. This applies to people currently working directly within the public sector under the old rules and people working for the private sector under the new rules. This should help greatly as it removes the ambiguity that currently exists in some statements from public sector bodies on how IR35 applies to an engagement.

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What if I disagree with the IR35 status?

The challenge process is built into the Qdos Status Review tool. When you receive the email confirming your IR35 status review is completed and stating if you are seen as Inside or Outside IR35, there will be an option for you to dispute the outcome. You will be able to provide reasoning as to why you think the status is incorrect and this will then be fed back to Qdos and Methods to review.

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Who pays for the Qdos assessment?

The cost of the Qdos Status review will be covered by the contractor. Before you are able to commence your questionnaire, you will be taken to a payment screen.

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