November’s Churchill Knight MSC hearing has been vacated, an ironic prelude to Wednesday October 28th’s Budget from chancellor John Healey — the very financial secretary who reportedly promised his 2007 rules would be narrowly applied, not still causing havoc almost 20 years on.

Umbrella regulation alone won’t drive out the cowboys, says the veteran sales director, who marks his 2026 exit by answering 26 questions on JSL, licensing, kickbacks and why 2016 will still outrank 2027 — plus what he’s seen, what’s changed, where the industry is heading and where he’s off to (clue: somewhere ‘youse’ might swap a doughnut for a cheesesteak).

Despite being far from comprehensive, new employment status proposals could still help more than 900,000 people. But weakening Substitution to get there risks undermining outside IR35 contractors’ defences and skewing IR35 assessments — all in the name of making good unpopular ‘gig economy’ tribunal defeats.

A long-promised government consultation on employment status could protect vulnerable workers without undermining genuine contractors. But officials leave inside IR35 contractors outside, warns former Treasury employment status adviser Rebecca Seeley Harris, meaning those taxed as employees with zero rights have until January 8th to speak up.

Two senior solicitors share a debt-collection company with a director of West 28th Street. ContractorUK investigates the links and what they could mean for contractors seeking independent legal advice.

Before the chancellor even gets to his feet on October 28th, the UK mortgage market is already pulling in two directions. Yet for contractors, the headline rate tells you little — just like how much point there is in approaching your current lender for the best deal, which could be as significant as £1,430 a year on a £200k loan; that’s a mere 1%.

Workers’ rights, not tax, look set to reshape UK contracting under Labour — a prospect my chat with chancellor John Healey reinforced. This month’s Autumn Budget may be just the start.

Will you still get paid on Friday if your umbrella company is sold? An adviser who’s been in the deal room sets out 10 questions to ask, now that JSL has made running an umbrella harder, and on the back of HMRC actively winding up umbrellas it suspects can’t pay.

Not all umbrellas are equal. Two with no written contracts, with ‘their’ workers or their client, and which didn’t actually pay workers themselves, have cost a wind-tech company more than half a million pounds in VAT. A former HMRC inspector reminds contractors that ‘paper labels’ don’t fool the taxman.

Why now, why all at once — and will Trethowans really take contractors to court after 27 October?

A contractor who settled historic loans for £1,994 is now being pursued for £131,000 after the settled debt was apparently sold to West 28th Street.

FCSA has expelled MyPay after HMRC’s winding-up petition, but the umbrella still claims accreditation. An ex-HMRC inspector says steer clear, the REC urges caution, and APSCo tells agencies to investigate — just as two serving umbrella directors question accreditation’s limits.

HMRC reckoned no other impacts of JSL had been identified. Compliant small umbrellas squeezed off agency PSLs tell a different story, as does the growing number of live petitions by the taxman, and that ongoing umbrella unrest feeling. Budget 2026 needs to even the scales.

Robert Walters’ Jason King sets chancellor John Healey three Budget 2026 tasks to boost IT contractor hiring: fund AI skills, speed up security clearance and increase public sector digital spending.

Winners and judges react after the 2026 Contracting Awards in London, where several of last year’s victors successfully defended their titles, the first AI award was handed out, and one broker made it four in a row.

With Churchill Knight’s tribunal due in November and one contractor facing an alleged £52,700 bill, a former HMRC specialist tests the ‘cruel’ claim, in a world of nuance and non-hypotheticals.

Four recruiters endorse the REC’s best IT contractor figures in over three years. VIQU IT and Robert Walters see firms investing in tech; Reed says hiring managers are back with clearer budgets, and First Point even credits Andy Burnham but flags a guaranteed hours ‘banana skin.’

Setting up a limited company? Your home address could end up rather more public than you bargained for. From junk mail and identity theft to keeping home and business separate, here’s what contractors should know before putting their address on Companies House, and what to do if it’s already there.

IPSE’s Josh Toovey was in the room when Andrew Griffith MP pledged to ‘replace, not reform’ IR35. Here, exclusively for ContractorUK, he sets out the three IR35 models on the table — and names the frontrunners in the eyes of the UK’s self-employment body.

Contractors moving between PSC and umbrella arrangements face a higher risk of HMRC's tax calculation gaffe. Carl Bridges of Caroola Accountancy explains what the tech flaw dating back to 2021 means for 2025/26 tax bills, and why one-and-done is so yester-tax-year.

A new ‘dodgy’ dozen has joined HMRC's avoidance blacklist, which features an offshore trust with a self-voiding clause, three updates to the previously ‘named and shamed,’ and ‘too good to be true’ arrangements that threaten contractors with ‘tax bills, hardship and stress.’

The FCSA’s Andy Chamberlain reveals why DBT’s plans could see inside IR35 contractors' assignments cut short and umbrella companies handed guaranteed-hours obligations they can’t meet, as the government moves to put the zero-hours ‘cart’ before the agency regulatory ‘horse’ — unless a minister intervenes.

A slick new HMRC video and detailed policy paper promise clarity and straightforwardness for McCann loan charge settlers. Ten questions from ContractorUK going unanswered suggest otherwise.

From IR35 and tax admin to ‘business-friendly socialism,’ 52 contractors and small business owners give their early verdict on Andy Burnham, with 25 already negative and just nine positive. The new PM has some convincing to do.

From 1% deposits to 6.5x multipliers even on ‘fractional’ income, here's how contractor mortgages are already changing pre-Budget 2026 — and the one wish, and one worry, ahead of former housing minister and now chancellor John Healey delivering his verdict before Halloween.

From ‘permitted purpose’ clauses to ‘flow down’ obligations, a live High Court case triggered by ‘unusual email alerts’ and centring on a displaced software supplier offers five lessons in guarding your own when a big client moves on.

Amanda worked for eight weeks in 2016. She is now 63, retired and a grandmother of six — and almost a decade later, she is still being told that some of the money she earned is a debt.

There’s a slow tightening of the screw on the self-employed that might as well have eight consultancy giants at the handle end, and government policy as the torque. The PM or his chancellor should stop this billion-pound accumulation of UK self-harm dressed up as reform.

Contractor-turned-umbrella-company-body-CEO Chris Bryce outlines what’s deliverable, affordable and tangible in the new chancellor’s first budget, ranging from MSC reform and a statutory employment status test to banning the brolly bypass and eliminating the IR35 exemption ruse.

First Point Group, Bowers Partnership, VIQU IT and Robert Walters tell ContractorUK why the PM’s dislike of video interviews doesn't map onto professional tech contracting, where virtual is already the default — and, one recruiter argues, an IR35-neutral ‘leveller,’ rather than a mere ‘convenience.’

Urged to intervene against ‘HMRC cruelty’ in MSC cases, and U-turn employer NICs changes, chancellor John Healey is being called by SG, Re Legal and Caroola to fix the default of 'Inside IR35' when he delivers Budget 2026 on October 28th, even as FCSA says no OPW changes are coming.

Not every umbrella that underpays HMRC is doing the same thing wrong — and Joint & Several Liability doesn’t treat all three scenarios the same way. Nevertheless, ‘Can we trust it?’ is now the key brolly question being asked by contractors’ recruitment agencies and end-clients.

HMRC is consulting until Sunday on plans to make Direct Debit mandatory for VAT and PAYE payments, hitting contractors paid on agency terms of 30-60 days. Dedicated tax reserve accounts will surely come into their own. Either way, respond to HMRC.

HMRC’s recent focus on ‘reckless’ tax offences is a blunt instrument that risks tarring legitimate contractors with the same brush as tax evaders, warns SG Accounting’s Daniel Mepham.

After June's heatwave-linked dip, IT contractor demand is back in growth — its best month in nearly three years. First Point Group, SThree and Morgan McKinley reveal what's driving it, but it’s clearly not being felt by everyone.

UK IT contracting isn't shrinking, but it is getting pickier. SThree's Nicholas Tsappis explains why cybersecurity, AI and enterprise transformation are pulling in specialists, how IR35 is reshaping the way contractors get engaged, and which four sectors now expect more than technical skill alone.

As LinkedIn users herald a ‘quiet comeback’ in outside IR35 contracting, Reed's head of contract IT hiring Kelly Macey sets the record straight, and explains what's actually behind 2026's rise in outside IR35 roles.

Auto enrolment quietly sorts pensions for employees. Contractors get nothing of the sort, and fewer than one in five of the self-employed now saves into one at all. ContractorUK asked 278 contractors when they finally started, how IR35 shapes the route in, and what "enough" actually looks like.

Got an HMRC loan charge settlement letter? Here's what to check before you sign — including the £70,000 cap and how an untaxed income estimate could fall from £11,000 to just £3,000.