Conservatives to replace IR35 outright, Griffith vows — advisers who met him reveal what it should contain

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has pledged that a future Tory government would outright replace IR35, prompting two advisers who met him about the rule to tell ContractorUK what could replace it.

What should replace IR35, according to advisers who met Griffith?

Charlie Hemsworth of Bauer & Cottrell says a Tory government’s IR35 replacement “should deal properly with tax status, employment status, labour supply chains and enforcement; all together.”

A replacement of IR35 by the Conservatives must also give self-employed, limited company contractors “and organisations engaging them much greater certainty and fairness,” Hemsworth says.

Rebecca Seeley Harris of Re Legal Consulting says any IR35 replacement should preserve the HMRC principle that employment taxes are paid where an engagement is genuinely one of employment.

A Tory replacement of IR35 would also need to provide “greater clarity, consistency and certainty for genuinely self-employed professionals and the organisations that engage them,” Seeley Harris says.

When did the Conservatives first pledge to look at IR35?

Speaking exclusively to ContractorUK, both the advisers attended a Conservative Party IR35 policy meeting in November 2025, after Griffith’s first vow just a few weeks before to ‘look again at reforming’ IR35.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservatives’ leader, reiterated that pledge this month, saying on September 11th 2026 that a range of Tory measures to ‘back business’ would include “reforming IR35 rules”.

On Friday, September 18th 2026, Mr Griffith, who is a qualified chartered accountant, went further.

What did Andrew Griffith MP actually say about IR35?

“I’m committing today that the next Conservative government will replace IR35 — not reform it, not review it,” stated Griffith, at just over 8:30 into his first major speech as shadow chancellor.

Shooing off with his hand another IR35 relook, the former technology secretary said the Tories would “replace it with a new system that respects the right of the self-employed to choose their status”.

And it would be a system that “only prevents actual abuse,” emphasised Mr Griffith.

Contractors will hope his emphasis means Griffith is aware that inside IR35 determinations, or blanket bans on limited companies, have become end-hirers’ default response to IR35 reform.

Working at HM Treasury when mini-budget 2022 announced the then Conservative government (under Liz Truss) would repeal IR35 reform (but subsequently didn’t), Griffith said on Friday:

“IR35…[since its reform is] a regime which crushed the dreams of so many self-employed people to be able to work for themselves and regulate their own affairs. Freedom, responsibility, hard work. These are Conservative values. And yet I know that many felt badly let down by IR35 and our party’s role in that.”

Which government brought in the off-payroll rules?

The Boris Johnson-led Tory government introduced IR35 reform in the private sector on April 6th 2021 (‘the off-payroll rules’), after Theresa May’s Tory government introduced it in the public sector on April 6th 2017.

How have off-payroll advisers reacted to Griffith’s IR35 replacement pledge?

Ryan Dawson, IR35 project manager at Kingsbridge, yesterday told ContractorUK: “The Conservatives, who were the architects of the off-payroll rules in both the public and private sectors, are now explicitly questioning the landscape they helped create. 

“Hopefully, this signals recognition of what advisers have broadly been shouting about for years: these rules have placed a significant burden on businesses, stifled genuine growth and, in many cases, taken away contractors’ ability to engage on a genuine business-to-business basis.”

Danny Batey, senior consultant at Markel Tax, told ContractorUK: “Many clients and contractors will welcome the shadow chancellor’s announcement that the Conservative Party will replace IR35 should they return to power after the next general election.

“At the same time, many will be angered that the party responsible for implementing the IR35 Off-Payroll Working (OPW) rules has now publicly acknowledged that they got it wrong when it comes to these rules and therefore have ‘badly let down’ the self-employed.’

“This admission from the Conservatives is a slap in the face for contractors, many of whom have faced tough times financially due to OPW and in some cases forced to leave contracting altogether.”

Why are advisers sceptical about the Conservative Party’s pledge to replace IR35?

Both Batey, who is ex-HMRC, and Dawson, who has specialised in IR35 for a decade, imply contractors will be extremely sceptical of Mr Griffith’s IR35 replacement pledge on the Tories’ behalf.

Dawson said pledging to replace IR35 was of more significance than the many ‘reform’ and ‘review’ IR35 vows, but it’s “very easy for a party to say in opposition, and any change is obviously a long way off.”

Batey said he expected hopefully interesting “substance behind the commitment” from Mr Griffith but cautioned that “making bold statements…to win back voters” was the “easy” part.

Who will design an IR35 replacement for the Conservatives?

In his speech, which can be viewed on Conservatives.com —which carries the pseudo-apologetic slogan “Help Us Renew” — Griffith said two new hires would come up with IR35’s replacement.

“I’m delighted this morning to be announcing two advisers to help me. Both have spent years campaigning to lower the burdens on business and get Britain growing again.

“The first is Craig Mackinlay…he, like me, is a chartered accountant but he’s also a chartered tax adviser who brings decades of real-world experience”, said Griffith, a former chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Policy Studies, a think-tank.

“[And the second adviser is] Robert Colvile, the outgoing director of the Centre for Policy Studies, the intellectual home of [former Conservative PM Margaret] Thatcher’s economic revolution.”

Mr Griffith said that Mackinlay and Colvile’s “advice will form the basis of the changes the next Conservative government will make,” including the work “to recommend a replacement for IR35.”

Can Andrew Griffith’s two new advisers actually come up with an IR35 replacement?

A tax specialist since he joined HMRC in Compliance in 1999, Danny Batey suggested that on IR35 alone, the two advisers have their work cut out.

“From HMRC and the Treasury’s perspective, the OPW rules have been a success; therefore, any government looking to replace the IR35 OPW rules will face significant pressure to think again — or introduce new measures that protect against disguised employment and the amount of tax and NIC currently being collected.

“What any new measure would look like at this stage is, frankly, anyone’s guess,” the Markel senior tax consultant told ContractorUK. “Although perhaps the old saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’ should be borne very much in mind.”

Could a Tory IR35 replacement avoid becoming ‘IR35 2.0’?

Kingsbridge’s Ryan Dawson told ContractorUK: “Griffith’s reference to a system that allows the self-employed to ‘choose their status’ while preventing ‘actual abuse’ points towards something potentially quite different from simply creating another ‘IR35 2.0.’

 “The Tory IR35 replacement system could conceivably place greater emphasis on clear statutory criteria for genuine self-employment, and focus HMRC enforcement on arrangements that are deliberately structured to disguise employment.”

What do advisers want from a Tory move to replace IR35?

At status advisory Bauer & Cottrell, where she is director, Charlie Hemsworth told ContractorUK: “Replacing IR35 is definitely on the right track, but there has been growing recognition that IR35 cannot sensibly be looked at in isolation.

“Along with other industry experts, I met with Andrew Griffith MP last year and it’s positive he appears to have taken on board the meeting’s consensus that IR35/OPW is far too complicated, and that simply patching up the existing rules won’t be good enough.

“In 2026-27, we have a much wider employment status and labour supply framework that is incredibly complex and no longer fit for the way the self-employed actually work. The Labour government’s hopefully imminent employment status consultation may…[address this]”.

Could Labour now be forced to act on IR35?

Alternatively, Labour could feel the need to respond to the Conservatives’ IR35 replacement pledge, potentially as soon as Autumn Budget 2026 on October 28th.

Markel’s Danny Batey explained: “Given that two of the current government’s political opponents have now publicly stated that they would remove IR35 — both Reform UK and the Tories — will this force Labour to offer a similar commitment? One would hope so.

“Either way, it is positive that IR35 reform seems to be back on the table again for discussion.”

Kingsbridge’s Ryan Dawson echoed: “[Despite the understandable scepticism about the Tories’ IR35 pledge] these things have to start somewhere.

“Many in the contractor industry will be encouraged that both Reform and the Conservatives are looking at considerable change in this area — and recognising the challenges with the current system. Perhaps Labour will follow suit.”

Which government brought in IR35?

A Labour government led by Tony Blair conceived IR35 in 1999, a year before it passed into law — a history that makes a legal adviser who has assisted contractors ever since then very doubtful that any party will axe the Intermediaries legislation (2000) or the OPW rules (2017/2021).

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” the adviser, Roger Sinclair of Egos Legal, told ContractorUK.

“Labour brought in IR35 and left it in place for the subsequent 10 years that the party was in power. The Conservatives reformed IR35 with OPW and left that in place for their 14 years in power. So Labour’s track record is introducing IR35; the Conservatives’ track record is making it worse.”

Will the Treasury ever let IR35 be scrapped?

Contractor Elaine Richardson, who won her IR35 case against the Revenue, told ContractorUK: “I suspect it’s a genuine intention [from the Tories], but even if they get into power — which is hardly likely anytime soon — HM Treasury has 4.2billion ‘reasons’ to block it. And then it will never be heard of again.”

Conservatives vow to replace IR35: FAQs

• Will the Conservatives really replace IR35? Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith told Capital City College in Tottenham, north London, that a future Tory government would replace IR35 outright rather than reform or review it, with two new advisers tasked with designing its replacement — yet contractors and advisers are wary.
• Who are Griffith's IR35 advisers? Craig Mackinlay, a Tory peer and chartered tax adviser, and Robert Colvile, the outgoing director of the Centre for Policy Studies.
• What do off-payroll experts think a replacement to IR35 should look like? Advisers who met Griffith want a joined-up approach to status that factors in labour supply chains and enforcement, which gives clarity, consistency and certainty to both contractors and engagers, while upholding the HMRC principle of employment taxes being due on employment assignments.
• Could a Tory replacement of IR35 end up recreating the same problem? Advisers urge caution: Ryan Dawson of Kingsbridge says Griffith’s approach should hopefully avoid introducing ‘IR35 2.0,’ and Danny Batey of Markel cautions contractors to ‘Be careful what you wish for.’
• Which government brought in IR35? A Labour government under Tony Blair conceived IR35 in 1999; the Conservatives introduced the off-payroll reforms in the public sector (2017) and private sector (2021).
• Could Labour also promise to change IR35? Advisers say Reform UK and the Conservatives both now pledging action on IR35 may pressure Labour to respond, possibly at the Autumn Budget on October 28th 2026 or its Employment Status Review — though ContractorUK understands that the review is already written.
• What’s with the graphic on the video load screen for Griffith’s speech? It’s a capitalised “WARNED” message from the Tories addressed to John Healey and Andy Burnham, showing Healey’s open-mouthed face superimposed behind a downward-looking Burnham — imagery that closely resembles the poster for horror film Insidious.