egos® – the legal
consultancy – for business
Links to: Index - Welcome / What We Do - Contact Details & Availability – Contact us – Terms of Business
This is the Working Practices Questionnaire (‘WPQ’) page
This page is primarily relevant to Contractors & Freelancers
Background
Whether
you as a contractor fall outside IR35 or not in relation to any particular
engagement will depend on (i) your working practices, and (ii) on the terms of
the contract that governs those working practices, viewed against (iii) the
background of your own business operation.
Preserving
evidence – particularly where that evidence is helpful – of working practices
is something every wise contractor operating outside IR35 should do. Having a helpful contract in place is a key
element – but on its own, it’s rarely a complete solution.
So,
it is wise to take steps to preserve evidence of actual working practices. Particularly where that evidence is helpful.
There
are times when it is easy to collect that evidence, and there are times when it
is not; bear in mind that it could be
required some 6 years down the line, when the people you depend on for answers
have long since moved on, and when the only persons then available on the
client side are HR people, only too willing to speculate from a position of
ignorance of the actual facts, and give unhelpful ‘would have’ answers.
In
the early days of IR35, a form of ‘Confirmation of Arrangements’ was agreed
between PCG and HMRC, with a view to providing a format in which the actual
working arrangements could be documented.
However, my own experience is that
-
the
format has not been widely used
-
contractors
who have attempted to use it have not found it particularly easy to get the
form completed and countersigned by clients
-
it’s
probably not as easy to understand as it needs to be, if it is to hold the
attention span of many line-managers-in-a-hurry (who doubtless have more
important things to think about) for long enough for them to think about
whether they agree the content as accurate
-
often,
line managers have regarded signing such a document as outside their authority,
and have simply passed it up the line, generally to HR, who actually have far
less knowledge of what the working practices applicable to the contractor
actually are
-
it
doesn’t readily ‘interact’ with or reflect the contract provisions.
-
Using the WPQ to
consolidating your IR35 position
With
all the above in mind, I have drafted a new document – the WPQ - with a view to
-
finding
a way to preserve the evidence
-
being
relatively easy for a contractor to complete in draft
-
being
relatively easy for a client’s representative, asked to countersign it, to see
and quickly form a view as to whether or not he agrees with it, and can
properly countersign
-
it being
of some use, even if a clients representative is not willing to
countersign.
In
composing the WPQ, I have drawn on available materials from a range of sources,
on my own experience of advising contractors in this field for well over a
decade, and in particular on my experience of the potentially helpful points
which are often there, but which need to be drawn out in order that their
significance and effect on the IR35 position can be seen.
In
short, the WPQ has been designed to
help streamline the process of consolidating and preserving documentary
evidence, and to present your IR35 position in the best possible light.
Why use the WPQ
The
WPQ has been developed with a view to streamlining the process for creating a
consolidated record of the working practices, and which presents the IR35
position in the best possible light.
How It works
The
WPQ is structured as questions to be answered by the contractor, which the
client’s representative (generally the line manager or direct report) will be
invited by the contractor to countersign.
It
is intended to be used as follows:
-
whilst
the contract is still current (ideally), and once the actual expected working
practices have become clear, you (the contractor) complete a first draft of the
form (a month after starting could be a good point to begin the process)
-
You
then invite your line manager / direct report to countersign the WPQ (a
suggested wording for this request will be provided).
If
the client’s representative is willing to countersign the WPQ, then clearly you
have succeeded in preserving the evidence.
But
even if the client’s representative declines to countersign, you still have the
opportunity to try and get an indication from him as to why – by email should
be fine - does he decline because he feels the document is incorrect? If so, that may be something you can draw
out, and find out what he disagrees with?
Or does he decline because of ‘policy’ (in which case the simple fact that
he has had, but not taken, the opportunity to draw attention to anything he
feels to be incorrect may of itself be helpful).
Download the WPQ here
This is the Working Practices
Questionnaire (‘WPQ’) page
This page is primarily relevant to Contractors & Freelancers
Links to: Index - Welcome / What We Do - Contact Details & Availability - Contact us – Terms of Business
This
page was last updated 17th May 2023.
Egos Legal Limited is a company
incorporated in England (company no 12049156, VAT no 328-0411-32), registered
office Suite 2A1 Northside House, Mount
Pleasant, Barnet EN4 9EB is licensed to use the registered trade mark egos
in connection with the provision of services within UK. Egos Legal Limited
provides documentation packages, primarily to Umbrella, Engagement Intermediary
Service Providers, and Management Companies, and to Agencies and Employment
businesses.
Office address: Eastside, Kings Cross Station, London N1C 4AX
Egos Consultancy Limited is a company incorporated in
Office address: Eastside, Kings Cross Station, London N1C 4AX
Egos Consultancy Limited is a company incorporated in
Disclaimer of liability: The information on these pages is provided free and for information
only, and is provided 'as is'. Whilst believed to be correct, it is in no way
comprehensive. It is provided for your interest only and is not intended to be
relied on as formal legal advice. The posting of information on these pages is
not intended to create a lawyer-client relationship, and you should not act or
rely on this information without seeking professional advice. No liability is
accepted therefore for any errors, or for any losses that may be incurred if it
is relied on.
Copyright details: © Egos Consultancy Ltd – ecl@egos.co.uk 2000 – 2023- All rights reserved.
You may read these pages on-line, and download them to read later, for
your own personal use. This copyright notice must
appear on every page that you print from here.
You must not redistribute these pages or any part of them in any form or
medium without first obtaining my consent.
You are welcome to set up links to this website from others - just mail me to
tell me if you're doing this please..
Privacy and cookies: Simple. This
site does not collect personal data, we don’t track use of these pages, we
don’t use cookies. If you provide us with
personal data (eg by email) we will only use such data for the purpose for
which it was provided.
