Innovation sits at the heart of everything we do here at Kingsbridge. We’re constantly striving to create better products so that you, our customers, get the very best the market can offer – which is why we’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be adding the Broker Innovation Award to our trophy shelf.
The Broker Innovation Awards are judged by an independent panel of industry leaders who give their free time to assess entries chosen for their expertise, experience, and positions in the industry and its various sectors. This year’s panel featured the likes of Chris Croft (CEO of London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association), Louise Day (Director of Operations of the International Underwriting Association), and Kevin Hancock (Chair of the Society of Insurance Broking).
Needless to say, we’re over the moon at the recognition they’ve seen fit to award Kingsbridge amongst some fierce competition.
IR35 Protect wins Broker Innovation Award
During a live-streamed ceremony of the Broker Innovation Awards last night, Kingsbridge proved triumphant in the eponymous Broker Innovation category.
Our entry revolved around our cutting-edge 360 IR35 solution which has been built with all points of the supply chain – contractors, recruiters, and end clients alike – in mind. We’ve watched as the IR35 reforms have sent shockwaves throughout the industry, in both the public sector in 2017 and on the run-up to the looming private sector implementation in 2019.
Many genuine contractors in both the public and private sectors have fallen victim to either blanket bans on engaging PSCs or were offered PAYE roles that reduced their take-home pay drastically without any employment rights in return. Recruiters saw their revenues plummet. We decided that there had to be a better option.
After reviewing the existing insurance offerings in the IR35 insurance arena, we found them to be inadequate for a number of reasons, including low indemnity limits, no run-off cover, and cover that was often dependent on in-house IR35 status determination tests.
During our wider IR35 product research, we found another huge gap in the market in terms of IR35 status determinations. Accurate status determinations are critical for recruiters to confidently place contractors ‘outside IR35’ and, therefore, qualify for insurance.
It’s also essential for contractors to be able to easily understand their position and negotiate changes to their contracts. None of these needs were being adequately met by either HMRC’s CEST tool or independent offerings.
We therefore set out to design an insurance product to help everyone in the supply chain to manage the risks of this change and ensure that genuine contractors could continue working without fear of IR35. That product is the now-award-winning IR35 Protect.
James Twining, Kingsbridge CEO, comments on BIA win
James Twining, Kingsbridge CEO, is delighted by the industry recognition our IR35 solution has received.
“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the UK’s army of self-employed contractors and freelance workers and their role in getting the nation back on its feet is now more critical than ever,” says Twining. “Our enhanced IR35 offering now provides a unique combination of automated status-assessment and human judgement, backed by a bespoke insurance product, that will enable end-clients and recruitment agencies to navigate the forthcoming changes in the IR35 tax legislation with minimal disruption to their business or the livelihoods of the contractors they work with.”
Working with the recently acquired IR35.io, we now offer the UK’s first end-to-end IR35 solution that enables individual contractors, recruitment agencies, and end-clients to immediately assess the IR35 status of contract-based roles and limited company contractors on an individual basis.
Most notably, it lets users manage and report on the complex multi-party process that a robust and auditable IR35 status assessment requires.
By working with Kingsbridge, end clients and recruiters can now instantly determine IR35 status and ensure that legitimate contractors are able to continue to work outside of IR35.
Moreover, Kingsbridge’s online tool is complemented by a consulting service – headed up by leading IR35 specialists Andy Vessey ATT and Matt Tyler, previously of Larsen Howie – that provides a manual review of indeterminate cases to help navigate IR35 and advise on accurately assessing roles.
These services are available on a one-off basis or through a monthly subscription called IR35 Complete, giving access to unlimited tests and a range of support services.
Our unique IR35 offering also includes access to market-leading levels of IR35 insurance. This protects the individual contractor while the old IR35 rules are still in place, but will flex to cover end clients and recruiters from investigation costs, taxes, and penalties that may result from a role assessment being subsequently challenged by HMRC when the liability shift comes in April 2021.
Get ready for the IR35 reform with Kingsbridge
It’s crucial that all points of the supply chain understand their IR35 position with every contract taken on or filled. Getting a professional IR35 employment status determination is pivotal to making sure you know where you stand, while IR35 investigation insurance is also a worthy investment and can provide a lifeline should you fall foul of an HMRC enquiry.
“It’s now of utmost importance that recruiters and end clients in particular set preparations for the reform in motion, take the time to understand the risks associated by not having the correct processes in place, and educate themselves how to assess contractors fairly,” warns Head of Tax Andy Vessey. “Don’t shoot yourselves in the foot with gross risk-aversion – UK companies will absolutely need to utilise flexible workforces now more than ever to get the economy engines firing again in a post-pandemic landscape.”
To find out more about IR35 Protect, click here to download our guide. For more information on how Kingsbridge can assist your business in preparing for off-payroll 2021, or for a demo of our award-winning status determination tool, please email IR35@kingsbridge.co.uk, or give the team a call on 01242 808740.
