IR35 Remains one of the most misunderstood and most investigated areas of UK tax law
The Challenge
Since off-payroll working rules were extended to the private sector in 2021, the burden of IR35 status determination has fallen squarely on the engaging organisation. HMRC’s compliance activity has intensified, and the financial exposure is significant: incorrect determinations can result in unpaid PAYE and National Insurance contributions, plus penalties and interest, going back years. Many organisations still rely on blanket determinations, contractor self-assessment, or process frameworks that have never been properly tested.
The Solution
BFI’s in-house IR35 programme gives the teams responsible for contractor assessments, HR, procurement, finance and legal, the knowledge to make defensible, auditable status determinations. We cover the legal framework, the HMRC CEST tool and its limitations, what “reasonable care” requires in practice, and how to build an assessment process that protects the organisation if HMRC comes knocking.
Course Overview
Why bring this training in-house?
- Compliance: Build an IR35 assessment framework that demonstrates reasonable care to HMRC and withstands scrutiny.
- Confidence: Move away from blanket determinations and give your assessors the practical tools to make accurate, individual status decisions.
- Risk reduction: Identify and close the gaps in your current process before HMRC does, and understand what your financial exposure actually looks like.
- Cross-function alignment: Bring HR, procurement, finance and legal into a shared understanding of IR35 obligations and the process required.
Learning objectives:
IR35 compliance looks very different for an organisation with five contractors than one with five hundred, and the risk profile changes significantly across sectors, financial services, IT, construction, professional services, public sector. This programme is calibrated to your contractor population, your current assessment process, and the specific IR35 challenges your organisation is navigating. Whether you are building a framework from scratch, reviewing an existing process after a change in your contractor base, or preparing for potential HMRC scrutiny, the content is shaped around what you actually need.
In-house delivery gives your organisation:
- Content calibrated to your contractor population, your sector and your current assessment framework
- Space to work through specific contractor arrangements and status questions confidentially
- Cross-functional participation, bringing together HR, procurement, finance and legal in a shared understanding
- A practical output: an assessment process framework and documentation approach your organisation can implement immediately
Key training topics:
The programme is structured across five modules, adapted to your organisation’s contractor volume, current process maturity, and the IR35 situations most relevant to your workforce.
Module 1 The IR35 Legal Framework, Off-Payroll Working Rules, Employment Status Tests, and How HMRC Approaches Investigation
Module 2 Status Determination in Practice, The CEST Tool, Its Limitations, and How to Make Defensible Individual Assessments
Module 3 Demonstrating Reasonable Care, What HMRC Requires and How to Build an Auditable Assessment Process
Module 4 Contracts, Working Practices and Status, Aligning Contractual Terms with Actual Working Arrangements
Module 5 Contested Determinations, Disputes and HMRC Enquiries, What to Do When Contractors Push Back or HMRC Investigates
By the end of this training your team will be able to:
- Explain the off-payroll working rules and why the responsibility for status determination sits with the engaging organisation
- Apply the key employment status tests, substitution, control, mutuality of obligation, to real contractor arrangements
- Use the CEST tool correctly, understand its limitations, and know when additional analysis is required
- Build and document an IR35 assessment process that demonstrates reasonable care to HMRC
- Identify the contractual and working practice red flags that are most likely to attract HMRC scrutiny
- Handle a disputed status determination and understand what happens when HMRC opens an IR35 enquiry
Who will benefit from attendance:
IR35 compliance spans multiple functions, and the most common failure point is when those functions are not working from the same understanding. This programme is designed for cross-functional delivery.
This course is designed for:
- HR directors and HR managers, who are responsible for IR35 compliance at an organisational level and need a thorough grounding in what the off-payroll rules require.
- Hiring managers and operational leaders, who engage contractors directly and feel uncertain about their obligations when specifying and managing contractor roles.
- Procurement and commercial teams, who contract with PSCs and limited company contractors and need to understand how contract terms affect IR35 status.
- Finance directors and payroll managers, who carry the financial exposure of incorrect determinations and need to understand how PAYE liability arises and what HMRC enforcement looks like.
- In-house legal and compliance teams, who advise on contractor arrangements and want a practical, current grounding in the employment status tests that underpin IR35 determinations.
- Resourcing and talent acquisition professionals, who work with agencies and temporary staffing arrangements and need to understand when IR35 obligations arise and who carries them.
This course is particularly valuable for organisations that have a significant contractor population, that have recently acquired another business with different contractor practices, or that are concerned their current assessment framework may not withstand HMRC scrutiny.
Contact Details
Catherine Ouston,
Head of In-House Training
📥 teamtraining@bfi.co.uk
📞 +44(0)1983 861133
