HMRC Increasingly Relying on Substitution Clauses

Contractor UK this week warned contractors who work via an agency that HMRC were beginning to rely on right of substitution clauses to launch IR35 investigations.
Right of substitution is the ability of a contractor to send someone else in their place to complete a role, and is one of the official tests used to establish [...]

New Restrictions On Limited Company Names

Companies House, which deals with the registration of businesses, has added 42 new words to a list of company names that are restricted, for having the potential to mislead or sound too official.
Among the words whose commercial use will now require permission, in order to stop businesses feigning some type of authority, are ‘adjudicator,’ ‘bank,’ [...]

Why Are Contractors Suffering Lower Rates?

From speaking with contractors around the UK and visiting contracting forums, it appears the recession has lowered contractor rates. There has been talk of ‘green shoots of recovery’ in the contractor marketplace but this appears to be coupled with lower rates for those contracts.
Contractor UK and Shout99 have reported this trend on their websites. It [...]