£1.4bn-turnover firm launches new division

A new company has been launched to protect businesses against the potentially disastrous fallout from new tax legislation.

Bridlington-based Hudson Contract, which supplies the UK construction industry and provides audit and payroll services to construction SMEs, has established Hudson Freelance.

Hudson Contract has revenues approaching £1.4bn. The firm said that in 23 years of trading it has engaged more than 145,000 freelance tradespeople, with not a single instance of employment status being reclassified.

It said the new division enabled firms to engage self-employed consultants, professionals and technicians without the financial fear and administrative burdens of IR35 reforms. Hudson Freelance is initially aiming its model at construction firms which rely on self-employed CAD technicians, project managers, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, contracts managers, structural engineers, estimators, planners, logistics managers and health and safety advisors.

Hudson Contract said its model was upheld in a landmark employment tribunal, which dismissed claims made by a self-employed surveyor.

The judgment said the surveyor’s legal agreement with her client, administered by Hudson, preserved her flexibility, autonomy and access to enhanced rights of commission and was incapable of conferring employment or worker status.

Ian Anfield, Managing Director of Hudson Contract, said: “This was an opportunistic claim, rightfully dismissed, and an important ruling which protects the vital role of freelancers in helping firms to grow.

“But what is even more important is that we were able to spare our client the cost and anxiety of dealing with the case itself.

“The tribunal ruled the surveyor was not an employee or a worker and she was not entitled to claim any compensation from the firm that had engaged her on a freelance basis.

“It shows the importance of ensuring both the contract of self-employment and the workplace circumstances are compliant.”

HM Revenue and Customs is introducing changes to off-payroll working rules from next April, in an effort to crack down on so-called disguised employment.

The reforms will shift responsibility from the individual suppliers to organisations receiving the services.