As the changes to IR35 come into effect next month, how prepared are UK organisations to deal with the new challenges it brings? IT contractors and the companies who use them are now in difficult territory, and that doesn’t look likely to change. However, Influential Software is offering alternatives in the form of IR35 consultancy solutions for IT contractors and compliant IT recruitment.

What is the challenge presented by IR35?

The new law makes medium and large businesses responsible for setting the tax status of independent contractors. While this may sound simple, the criteria are not straightforward. HRMC uses four factors—control and direction, substitution, mutuality of obligation, and exclusivity—to determine whether an employee falls inside IR35. Some large businesses, such as GlaxoSmithKline, find the situation so vague that they have banned contractors altogether.

So how do our IR35 consultancy solutions for IT contractors tackle this issue?

Our IR35 consultancy solutions

But all is not lost. Our IT consultants, working for clients under a specific Statement of Work (SOW), are not affected by IR35. This effectively allows us to step in where IT contractors fear to tread.

And as an IT consultancy with 25 years of enterprise-level experience, Influential Software is uniquely qualified. Our consultants are certified in the leading business technologies, including SAP, IBM, Microsoft, Dell Boomi, and MuleSoft. What’s more, our in-house Microsoft, PHP, and Java developers are able to customise and build any manner of business software. The ever-growing list of businesses we work with, from FTSE 100 companies to local SMEs, is testament to our expertise.

Plus IR35-compliant IT recruitment

Besides consultancy, the other alternative is IR35-compliant IT recruitment. Due to our size, Influential Software is exempt from the IR35 rules. This means we can provide IT contractors in a compliant fashion through our recruitment wing, Influential People.

Unlike most recruiters, Influential People works with our own technical teams to ensure every candidate has the skills required. Rather than taking candidates at face value, we understand their qualifications from an IT insider’s perspective.

On top of this, we use bespoke testing tools to check our candidates’ practical abilities. This ensures that each candidate is exactly as advertised and that your business gets the expected result.