https://uktech.org/author/uktech-newsdesk/ en-gb Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 newsdesk@uktech.org (UKTECH newsdesk) newsdesk@uktech.org https://uktech.org/a/temporary-and-contract-hiring-leads-the-uk-labour-market-recovery.html https://uktech.org/a/temporary-and-contract-hiring-leads-the-uk-labour-market-recovery.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business Temporary billings grew at the fastest rate since April 2023 as employers used flexible workers to advance shorter projects without committing to… https://uktech.org/a/cest-use-collapses-as-firms-seek-more-certain-ir35-assessments.html https://uktech.org/a/cest-use-collapses-as-firms-seek-more-certain-ir35-assessments.html Fri, 19 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 Use of HMRC’s employment status tool fell by 71 per cent in two years, according to Freedom of Information data, as clients moved towards alternative IR35… https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-only-hiring-is-driving-it-contractors-away-survey-finds.html https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-only-hiring-is-driving-it-contractors-away-survey-finds.html Wed, 06 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business A survey of 730 contractors and freelancers found that umbrella working was effectively compulsory in many agency engagements, despite widespread concern… https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-tax-liability-rules-put-agencies-on-the-hook-for-unpaid-paye.html https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-tax-liability-rules-put-agencies-on-the-hook-for-unpaid-paye.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business New joint and several liability rules allowed HMRC to recover umbrella company payroll shortfalls from recruitment agencies or end clients, changing the… https://uktech.org/a/technology-contract-market-weakens-as-ai-reshapes-specialist-demand.html https://uktech.org/a/technology-contract-market-weakens-as-ai-reshapes-specialist-demand.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IT SThree reported a 17 per cent fall in UK net fees and a 14 per cent decline across its global technology business, while clients redirected spending… https://uktech.org/a/post-office-s-104-million-ir35-bill-exposes-the-cost-of-misclassification.html https://uktech.org/a/post-office-s-104-million-ir35-bill-exposes-the-cost-of-misclassification.html Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 The government proposed paying £104.44 million directly to HMRC to settle the Post Office’s historic off payroll tax liability, creating a stark warning… https://uktech.org/a/outside-ir35-shortage-tops-contractor-fears-for-2026.html https://uktech.org/a/outside-ir35-shortage-tops-contractor-fears-for-2026.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 A survey of more than 600 independent professionals found that scarce outside IR35 work had become the biggest perceived threat to contractor businesses… https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-writes-to-864-000-traders-as-digital-tax-deadline-moves-inside-four-months.html https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-writes-to-864-000-traders-as-digital-tax-deadline-moves-inside-four-months.html Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business Long the reform that never quite arrived, Making Tax Digital hardened into a firm obligation in December 2025 as HMRC began writing to the people it will… https://uktech.org/a/budget-dividend-tax-increase-deals-another-blow-to-limited-company-contractors.html https://uktech.org/a/budget-dividend-tax-increase-deals-another-blow-to-limited-company-contractors.html Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business The Autumn Budget has raised the ordinary and upper dividend tax rates by two percentage points, directly reducing the income retained by contractors who… https://uktech.org/a/contract-market-cools-again-in-september-as-employers-freeze-hiring-before-the-budget.html https://uktech.org/a/contract-market-cools-again-in-september-as-employers-freeze-hiring-before-the-budget.html Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business Temporary billings fell faster than the month before and candidate numbers surged, as the latest KPMG and REC Report on Jobs found firms holding back… https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-company-tax-risk-moves-up-the-contractor-supply-chain.html https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-company-tax-risk-moves-up-the-contractor-supply-chain.html Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business HMRC has explained how recruitment agencies and end clients will become responsible for unpaid employment taxes when umbrella companies fail to operate… https://uktech.org/a/companies-house-announces-mandatory-identity-checks-for-contractor-company-directors.html https://uktech.org/a/companies-house-announces-mandatory-identity-checks-for-contractor-company-directors.html Tue, 05 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business Millions of company directors and controlling shareholders will have to verify their identities under a new Companies House regime that directly affects… https://uktech.org/a/draft-finance-bill-hands-hmrc-criminal-powers-over-tax-avoidance-promoters.html https://uktech.org/a/draft-finance-bill-hands-hmrc-criminal-powers-over-tax-avoidance-promoters.html Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business The government's Legislation Day package aims squarely at the marketed schemes that have left thousands of contractors nursing unexpected tax bills, but… https://uktech.org/a/government-technology-plan-signals-new-work-in-ai-cybersecurity-and-quantum-computing.html https://uktech.org/a/government-technology-plan-signals-new-work-in-ai-cybersecurity-and-quantum-computing.html Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IT A new ten year government strategy has placed artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced connectivity, semiconductors and quantum computing at the… https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-revises-cest-as-ir35-status-checks-face-renewed-scrutiny.html https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-revises-cest-as-ir35-status-checks-face-renewed-scrutiny.html Thu, 08 May 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 HMRC has updated its employment status tool for the first time in more than four years, but contractors and tax specialists say the changes improve… https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-contractors-bear-the-15-employer-nic-rise-as-the-new-tax-year-begins.html https://uktech.org/a/umbrella-contractors-bear-the-15-employer-nic-rise-as-the-new-tax-year-begins.html Sun, 06 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business The 2025-26 tax year opened with a dearer minimum wage and a steeper National Insurance bill, and for umbrella-employed IT contractors the two collided in… https://uktech.org/a/spring-statement-leaves-ir35-alone-as-hmrc-lines-up-a-1bn-compliance-push.html https://uktech.org/a/spring-statement-leaves-ir35-alone-as-hmrc-lines-up-a-1bn-compliance-push.html Wed, 26 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Political News Rachel Reeves ruled out fresh tax rises on 26 March, but a hardened HMRC enforcement drive and a lower Making Tax Digital threshold shifted the pressure… https://uktech.org/a/mps-tell-reeves-the-loan-charge-review-is-drawn-too-narrowly-to-reach-contractors.html https://uktech.org/a/mps-tell-reeves-the-loan-charge-review-is-drawn-too-narrowly-to-reach-contractors.html Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Political News The government's new inquiry examines only how contractors settle, not whether they should have to, and cross-party MPs want to know why. https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-logs-11-5-million-on-time-tax-returns-but-1-1-million-miss-the-31-january-deadline.html https://uktech.org/a/hmrc-logs-11-5-million-on-time-tax-returns-but-1-1-million-miss-the-31-january-deadline.html Fri, 31 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Business A record online filing rate could not stop about 1.1 million taxpayers, contractors among them, missing the 31 January deadline and the penalties that… https://uktech.org/a/national-insurance-bill-clears-the-commons-and-umbrella-contractors-will-absorb-the-rise.html https://uktech.org/a/national-insurance-bill-clears-the-commons-and-umbrella-contractors-will-absorb-the-rise.html Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Political News A tax framed as a levy on employers lands, in practice, on the take-home pay of contractors working through umbrellas or inside IR35. https://uktech.org/a/agencies-to-answer-for-umbrella-paye-from-april-2026-as-employment-rights-bill-reaches-committee.html https://uktech.org/a/agencies-to-answer-for-umbrella-paye-from-april-2026-as-employment-rights-bill-reaches-committee.html Tue, 26 Nov 2024 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 The Budget shifted the tax risk of umbrella working onto recruitment agencies; days later, MPs began building the rights regime to match. https://uktech.org/a/reeves-lifts-employer-nic-to-15-and-shifts-umbrella-paye-liability-onto-agencies.html https://uktech.org/a/reeves-lifts-employer-nic-to-15-and-shifts-umbrella-paye-liability-onto-agencies.html Wed, 30 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Political News The Autumn Budget squeezed umbrella workers' take-home pay while redrawing who carries the tax risk in the contractor supply chain. https://uktech.org/a/supreme-court-referee-ruling-redraws-the-mutuality-and-control-tests-behind-ir35.html https://uktech.org/a/supreme-court-referee-ruling-redraws-the-mutuality-and-control-tests-behind-ir35.html Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk IR35 The unanimous PGMOL judgment confirmed that the two tests contractors most often rely on to prove self-employment can be cleared far more easily than the… https://uktech.org/a/starmer-s-painful-budget-warning-puts-contractor-dividends-and-cgt-in-the-frame.html https://uktech.org/a/starmer-s-painful-budget-warning-puts-contractor-dividends-and-cgt-in-the-frame.html Tue, 27 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000 UKTECH Newsdesk Political News The Prime Minister's 27 August garden speech spared income tax, NI and VAT, and in doing so told company-based contractors exactly where the Budget axe…