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It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I write this. Over the weekend, following a sudden illness, I lost my friend, business partner, mentor to our wonderful team, and mother to the beautiful Milli. Jayne and I have been on quite a journey over the past 9 years, through tough times and great times, ups and downs, seen people come and go, and watched many flourish and grow into amazing colleagues and friends. Our business is people, and Jayne was just the most wonderful, loving and infectious person any of us could ever meet. This is clear from the incredible outpouring of condolences from friends, clients, colleagues, and many, many more besides. Our team is devastated by the loss but I know Jayne would be proud of the support they have shown each other, even in this strange, remote world we find ourselves, and the courage they have shown to pull together to ensure the legacy that we have built together continues to grow and flourish. Jayne instilled in the team a quality to deliver the best service possible to candidates and clients alike, and it is a testament to this that they continue to work as hard as ever to help our clients in this difficult time. Nothing less than Jayne would expect! Jayne will be sorely missed, but never forgotten, and will be forever in our hearts. Rest in peace, my dear friend.

I think I, along with thousands of others, jumped with joy at the announcement yesterday evening by Stephen Barclay MP, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury that the impending off payroll legislation known as IR35 would be deferred until April 2021. As good as this news is, we should never have reached this point with the legislation. The contract community and the wider business community have been arguing for the past 18 months (at least) that it is no fair and is not fit for purpose (as we have seen in the public sector). It’s difficult not to feel that HMRC knew it was a pile of the proverbial a long time ago but wasn’t prepared to lose face by delaying it and simply carried on with it, and now they have a convenient get out by blaming it the current coronavirus emergency. For anyone following IR35 closely, you may have read that the House of Lords ripped HMRC and the IR35 legislation to shreds over the past few days. HMRC was incapable of justifying many points raised by the Lords. I am fully aware of the vast amount of time spent in preparation for April 6th 2020 but agencies, clients, umbrellas, accountants and contractors, the cost of which is immeasurable. Just like in April 2017 when we got sight of the final public sector legislation 2 weeks before the April 6th deadline, we now have clarity just over 2 weeks before the private sector deadline. Maybe HMRC and Gov work in a parallel universe where business has nothing better to do than to react to legislative changes at the very last minute. Let’s hope that the next 12 months give HMRC time to make the legislation more realistic, fair and workable for all. I’m not holding my breath.