Seeing new roles being advertised for SSE - The recruiters are continuing to push the blanket ban. - Quote from communications "Due to the legislation change in April 2021 – SSE (like most clients in the current climate) will require all contractors to be Umbrella based as they will not be working with Ltd Company PSC contractors." smells like a blanket ban to me!

blanket psc ban, no assessment done

A flawed and poorly executed approach centred around CEST. A huge exodus of contractors thanks in no small part to thinly veiled blanket approaches.

STW have clearly taken a blanket determination approach but are playing along with the legal requirements to produce SDS and allow a sham appeal. They intentionally avoided all communication with contractors and left the process so late that appeals cannot be completed before April . People you have never heard of completed your SDS without any contact with either you or STW staff that you are working with to understand how your contract is operating . They appear to have found every contractor inside and therefore a disguised employee but they don't want to pay their own employment taxes - so much for being a responsible company - so they have passed the employers NI costs on through reduced rates in every case I am aware of. It seems some of the management are obsessed with whacking contractors but this can only come at the cost losing their best contractors in an uncontrolled fashion and being left with their worst. Anyone they eventually find to replace the losses will come at greater cost and reduced efficiency as they get up to speed with STW nuances.

Absolute shambles. Good quality contractors leaving right, left and centre. Appeals process an absolute joke. No communication, no interaction, no fact finding from the contractors. They had over a year to prepare, but left it until less than one month before the legislation kicks in to start issuing SDS documentation, yet they are adamantly sticking to the 45 day ruling for hearing appeals. HR and Pertemps seem oblivious to the havoc they are causing. IT management are pulling their hair out and projects are beginning to stall. Senior HR personnel surely need to consider their position as a result of this debacle - or have it considered for them. It is simply unacceptable for them to have handled it in the way they have.

IR35 paye brought forward to Jan 1st for some reason

Consistently bad communications . No clear explanation of the appeal process. A 45 day deadline that would end after contracts are expire. Flawed SDS and it seems that the people answering the CEST questions probably never saw the contracts they are assessing. They even missed their own deadline. Unless they were hoping for another stay of execution its hard to see how they couldn't get this done - they've had all year. A shame really, and they had already cut our rates once, the new 'inside' offer is a further insult and only leaves those either too lazy to leave or those taking the money while they look elsewhere.

I looked up incompetent in the dictionary and ended up with the Severn Trent HR dept and Pretemps being the definition. For all of us waiting on appeals good luck but I think we know the answer. For those happy to be inside you will become a disguised employee (zero benefits and rights) shame on you! Anyone considering an inside contract here in the future I can recommend avoiding this company.

A company who claims not to have a skills shortage has a large proportion of contractors, who are now demoralised and aggrieved by NGs' decision to issue a PSc ban. A decision made by managers who are so far removed from the coal face that I doubt they even know what services we are providing. We are forced to decide which of the five umbrella companies are going to shaft us. If you are a contractor who has busted his hump to deliver high quality work for this client then this is a complete slap in the face. It's not that they can't do anything regarding IR35, it's the fact that they won't are basically can not be arsed, which I feel is the worst thing about it. Obviously National Grids values does not take into account contractors who deliver the work. I won't be staying and when the opportunity arises I will be leaving as soon as possible.

Appeal upheld and now deemed to be outside. Glad that they’ve come to their senses. Chiiiiii....ching

Pontoon charge a minimal uptake for providing hourly paid contractors on a nationwide basis. Unfortunately they do not have the rersouces to force their contractors to accept that they are inside IR35 when in fact they are not. Most contractors will submit and then mopve on post Covid-19.

Was advised contract was outside, then inside, so requested an SDS. Then became apparent they are avoiding assessment altogether by refusing to work with PSCs and forcing the use of one of their five chosen umbrella companies. This would have incurred at least 12% additional costs on my rate, which they refused to uplift, so I made a very difficult choice and walked away.

Assessment carried out was deemed inside, appealed was still deemed inside despite having the same arguments as others who have successfully had their appeal upheld as outside. This company is a shambles and one person in particular who carried out the assessments is completely disillusioned with contractors who apparently ‘have gotten away too long with out paying their taxes - and it wasn’t going to continue on his watch’. Huge project impact on major digital transformation programme - but frankly they only have themselves (or one man rather) to blame. Bye bye E.On

SDS landed today despite CEST analysis being done 6 weeks ago. Seems like blanket determination everywhere. CEST answers riddled with errors. Atmosphere is grim.

SDS issued today and blanket inside determinations using CEST starting to land. Many contractors affected & unhappy. The 45 day appeal process was a nice touch given what the date is.

Wow - to the previous poster. You do realise if HMRC investigates you and deems you to be inside IR35, you are liable for tax payments up to the last seven years. Good Luck with your £100K backdated bill!

I must contest the previous posters position. I have been happily working here as a contractor for more than a decade and never had any issues with Eon's approach. They have always treated me fairly.

Received email from kingsbridge on my side of assesment. Received personalised assesment inside 48 hrs.

Was not consulted at all about the determination, hence E.ON not adhering correctly to IR35 rules (though heard a few select senior contract staff deemed outside IR35 - no surprise there!). This happens right in the middle of a big transformation project which is likely to see more staff leave. Yet another cock-up from E.ON management who outsourced their IT staff, wasted millions on multiple IT systems that never came to fruition, think they can just buy ready-made solutions and are surprised when they don't work - so long E.ON

As with last year the assessments are being carried out in an unfair way and the IR35 have eluded to the fact that no managers or workers were consulted as part of the assessment process due to time constraints. Appeal futile and the team carrying out the assessment appear to be acting as they see fit... which is incorrectly! It’s a shame, had enjoyed being here, but a major programme sourced mostly of contractors being put at risk as a result. Bye bye E.on

Neither Thames Water nor Pertemps appear to have any structure or framework in place to accommodate Outside IR35 contracts and have seemingly done nothing to try and put one in place. Pertemps have been conspicuous by their absence of any communication on this subject for more than 12 months, they don't respond to any attempts to clarify the situation and IR35 assessments have been conducted behind closed doors with the contractors themselves excluded from the discussion. Thames have basically come up with the answer that everyone should be deemed Inside and then put in place an assessment process designed entirely to reach that conclusion. A number of the contractors I believe are planning to extend their contracts beyond March on an Inside basis and leave as soon as they find an Outside contract. Others are planning to leave at the end of March.

Used CEST. No manager consultation as part of determination is a bit disappointing. Going to be some big programmes of work affected. Have opted not to stay, as is the same for swathes of other contractors

Business as usual during covid, if anything increase in projects

want to browse

Following a blanket assessment last year, no assessment at all this year. Renewals only being offered on a 'these umbrella companies or PAYE' basis. Rates not being uplifted at all so the Employer's NI burden falls on the contractor. It's a great place to work but it isn't attractive to stay.