Legislation around IR35 reforms states that construction firms with more than 50 employees, a turnover of £10.2m or assets of £5.2m must comply with the new rules, which serve to define off-payroll working in a bid to crack down on so-called ‘disguised employment’ by April 2020.

Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson Contract, says: “If HMRC decides highly paid consultants are actually employees, the potential liabilities could be disastrous. 

“Many businesses have already taken the decision to cull their off-payroll staff, thinking it’s better to be safe than sorry, even though it could harm their growth prospects. We have launched Hudson Freelance to eliminate the risk of continuing to use consultants once the rules change.”

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