Could it be worth paying legal fees to challenge an inside determination?

[DeludedKitten]

Am expecting an inside determination (though have not actually been contacted by end client's HR dept who just ignore emails). Contract runs until end of November 2020. Other contractors in same role, same dept have received inside determinations & are suggesting we engage a lawyer to contest this. Anyone else considered this route? Any views on there being any chance we could win gratefully received. I reckon being inside will incur costs of around £10K for rest of contract, legal fees could be £2K to £3K each.

There will be few lawyers who understand the legislation, so finding someone competent to do this could be a challenge. At the moment, there is no legislation to be making any appeals about anyway, it's only draft until the Finance Act passes. At this stage the client does not have to make a determination and there is no right to appeal even if they do, because there is no law defining any of this.

Your best bet would be to prepare for an appeal - go through an assessment tool yourself, and explain why you have given the answers you have given. Highlight the contract clauses which indicate that the contract is not one of employment. Document your working practices to explain why you are not an employee or disguised employee. Get everyone to do this. If you can, get a permie from your project to work with you on the assessment so that they can back up your case.

Then put in the appeal. If the client is following the draft legislation then they need to give you a response and an explanation why the appeal is not upheld.

Then walk en masse when the appeal fails.