#MedComms Workbook IR35 Survey, 8-14 February 2021
Now what's the state of #IR35 readiness amongst #MedComms freelancers in the UK? This was a repeat of a survey conducted in February 2020, and follows a year's unexpected delay in implementation of the IR35 changes due to COVID-19. So, once again we find ourselves expecting changes to the IR35 tax rules in the UK to apply in just 7 weeks. These will surely affect the working practices and relationships between at least some freelancers and their clients in the healthcare comms and medcomms industry but, for now, it's not clear exactly how. Once again we wanted to gauge the state of readiness and attitudes amongst the UK MedComms freelance community as represented by subscribers to the MedComms Workbook service. Has the one year delay led to clients and freelancers preparing themselves properly for these changes? The one clear message is "NO!" There's still a great deal of uncertainty and confusion and, frankly, far too little communications from the clients about their plans. IMPORTANT - this survey ran between 4-14 February 2021. This is before the UK's Budget Statement, which is expected on 3 March 2021. So, there's still a possibility, however unlikely, that the changes will be delayed or indeed abandoned. Note participation was on an entirely anonymous basis and the results were then made freely available to all. This was not intended as a robust study but will hopefully provide a useful measure of sentiment amongst our specialist community and prove useful to companies that are currently planning how working practices might need to change.
