Special message from our Managing Director Jason Atkinson

So Brexit day has finally come and gone. Whatever your feelings about it, most of us are now looking to the future.

I keep being asked about our Interim Management business and whether or not we are seeing a “Boris Boost” in 2020. To be honest, in my 15+ years in the industry I have never seen such a strange market for interim management.

On the positive side, we have never had such a strong and diverse talent pool. For Russam this has grown to over 50,000 highly skilled executives through our global interim executive group – www.wilgroup.net.

When I joined the industry, interim management was very niche; now there are nearly 5 million people in the UK working on a self-employed basis  – over 15% of the working population. And this is set to grow massively, along with interims at the more senior end of the spectrum. Organisations need flexible staff for lots of reasons, whether to handle special projects, manage change and transformation, cover gaps or provide specialist resource for a particular period of time. Interims and other contractors are essential in business and drive productivity – it is proven.

We have some interesting new projects including:

  • – Established share trading business – interim project manager for help obtaining a new banking license
  • – Major health charity – interim communications director to support a major transformation
  • – Infrastructure plc – interim digital leader and strategist
  • – Precision engineering company – interim finance consultant
  • – Sporting body – interim digital transformation lead
  • – Global retailer – China, USA and Asia – interim agile coaches
  • – Petrochemical company in Romania – interim turnaround manager

So, the supply is there and the demand is there; but the market remains sluggish; and the added uncertainty of IR35 is creating this strange market. We have been bombarded with questions from our clients and candidates about IR35.

My key message is “don’t panic.” Russam have supported interim workers since we were founded in 1982 and have always ensured a compliant and professional set-up including the tax structures.

Our clients must now take “reasonable care” and have a transparent, well documented justification for why the role is either inside or outside the legislation; and clear explanation for this determination. Simply, the process is facilitated by producing a clear role description outlining the main tasks of the interim assignment.

Clients need to consider whether they require an interim manager to undertake:

  • 1) A pre-existing role as a replacement, for example a statutory c-suite role such as a CEO, CFO or COO, as these are most likely to fall inside the legislation;
  • 2) or if the talent need is for a project director to work on one specific business development or transformation programme, this would – largely – be determined as outside.

Your accountant will be your tax expert, but we have a very useful IR35/Off-Payroll Tax Guide coming out next week. Please email me for a copy.

This guide will cover:

  • – Assessing IR35 status
  • – Tax collection and tax liability
  • – Small company exemptions
  • – Structures that Russam can offer
  • – Q&A’s

For a copy, or if you have any questions, get in touch at [email protected]

Contact us

Call us on 0207 099 2222 or email [email protected]

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