E-Nuff is not enough

EVER SINCE 1999 IR35 has been the target of hostilities and may now have been dealt a mortal blow by the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Cable & Wireless v Muscat [2005] EWCA Civ 220.

This article explores that decision and its relevance for personal service companies and their clients.

Where a client contracts with a service company and that company provides the services of the worker to the client established employment law has almost invariably held that the interposition of the company prevents the individual being employed by the client (see for example Winter v Westward Television [1977] EAT/589 and Hewlett Packard v O'Murphy [2001] EAT/612).

The courts have however recently begun to explore the interesting question as to whether the existence of the chain of written contracts necessarily precludes the existence of an unwritten or notional contract of employment directly...