3 replies on “Friday [11 to 14]”

1. 14. Another step in the direction we have been moving in for decades. Accreditation, compliance, and other hoops and hurdles dating back years have made small businesses unviable. Multinational corporations can afford to employ a permanent staff of lawyers and accountants, small businesses can’t. The plague of 2020 saw off more of them, the gaps they left were inevitably filled by bigger fish. Banks won’t give loans for startups unless the business plan includes selling to a multinational for £X billion in ten years. This battlefield is dominated by the likes of Blackguard and Vanrock who can afford to buy governments to do their bidding. If we organise to oppose we are a threat to democracy. We told to eat the bread we are handed and visit the circus when told to. Another rant over.

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2. #14 IR35 is so much worse than that brief summary, although it does state the main economic problems. It shifts the burden of the “Status Determination” to the end client. A Status Determination is whether you (the independent contractor) are in business on your own account (“outside IR35”), or a disguised employee of the client (“inside IR35”).

   These are supposed to be per contract, but clients frequently make unlawful, blanket determinations. HMRC provide a tool to help with these, which as you might imagine is a rigged game, and frequently produces different results for the same inputs, unless they’ve improved it since I last used it in 2020.

   Even when you get a fair assessment, HMRC often ignore the results of their own tool, and you then have to prove why you are compliant. If they have decided otherwise, you’ll end up arguing in court, and irrespective of the outcome, it will trigger fishing trips into previous contracts.

   I had an IR35 “friendly” contract with a client and up until the last month of that, was able to exercise certain clauses which kept me well outside. The client then unilaterally revoked these (breached its contract) in order to force all the contractors onto new, “inside” contracts. I ended it fairly shortly after that, and ultimately less than a year later, packed in contracting to work as a permie. What’s the point of taking on all the risks of an independent business, to be paid like and treated like staff, but with none of the benefits?

   I hate them completely; a nasty, spiteful, vindictive bureaucracy. Nothing like the old Inland Revenue after which this legislation was named.

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3. Ultra Processed Food? Please define. I suppose the categories are
   Unprocessed – Sushi, Steak Tartare, Oysters, raw fruit and veg;
   Processed – heated above 80C, by any means. :
   Super Processed – burnt, or in culinary terms, caramalised. I quite like my pork, chicken, and red meat and roast tatties at least partially Super Processed.
   Where does smoked stuff come into this? Not meaning the dyed “smoked” stuff.
   Ultra Processed – Ah dinnae ken.
   Odd that Denmark is not mentioned. Maybe they actually eat the same stuff as they flog to us?

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