Happy Birthday eNews: Welcome to the 100th edition of our monthly newsletter!

Month by month, since the end of 2008, Hudson Contract have published over 400 construction-centric articles, ranging from the outcomes of employment tribunals and sham contracts to HMRC crackdowns and warnings about rogue companies that are out to steal your CIS payroll.

Together with budget updates, legislation changes and views of the industry from clients, advisors and our own team, we are now sending our newsletter to over 8,000 readers.

So what has changed from when we published our first newsletter? 

“Less than you might imagine,” says Hudson Contract Managing Director Ian Anfield.  “In that first edition of eNews, I reported from a visit to a potential client who was accompanied by his accountant and a tax expert who had drawn up the firm’s contracts of self-employment. 

“Neither adviser had any knowledge of employment law and both admitted during the meeting that they doubted the contract would stand up to HMRC scrutiny.  The two advisers said they would both expect further payment to defend the system they themselves had put in place . . . but they accepted no responsibility for any fines or penalties that might be imposed.  I’ve had dozens of very similar meetings since then . . . although, equally, accountants often advise their clients to use Hudson Contract to eliminate the risks of CIS self-employment.”

eNews highlights include:

2009

• Labour government looked to bring in new legislation to prevent false self-employment that would have meant thousands of legitimate labour-only subbies were deemed to be employees
• Hudson Contract joined forces with the Home Builders Federation, the Federation of Master Builders, Barratts and Persimmon to launch a campaign called Stop The Unfair Building Tax

2010

• The end of the recession was in sight, but cashflow remained an industry-wide issue
• The coalition moved into Downing Street and The Unfair Building Tax was dropped   
• We warned against the Agency Workers Directive

2011 

• Professor Andrew Burke’s report ‘The Economic Role of Freelance Workers in the Construction Industry’ spelled out how construction self-employment creates economic value by facilitating flexibility and entrepreneurial enterprise
• The report was noted by top politicians, government advisers and tax specialists
• The Hudson Contract Apprentice Sponsorship Scheme began

2012

• Hudson Contract advised the Department of Business about the obstacles faced by small and medium size construction businesses

2013

• We found ourselves in (rare) agreement with UCATT about the necessity to stamp out bogus self-employment. 
• Not only did we win another employment tribunal case – we have never lost – we were also awarded costs for the first time with the judge commenting the claimants never had any chance of success

2014

• The Hudson Contract  Rewards Scheme reached new heights, with our biggest-ever sums given away:  £4,130 to an accountant and £3,995 to a bricklaying firm
• We geared up to meet the challenge of new legislation restricting self-employment in construction.

2015

• We thanked UCATT for referring a company to us.  The company explained:  “Hudson Contract’s name kept coming up on the union’s website and I thought if they dislike you so much, you must be doing something right.”
• We teamed up with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed to champion the issues that sit at the very heart of self-employment in the UK.

2016

• Hudson Contract celebrated 20 years of secure self-employment solutions
• The Hudson Contract Apprentice Sponsorship Scheme gave its 80^th youngster a start in the construction industry

One thing that hasn’t changed

• Our unique pay statistics data that gives you a monthly snapshot of labour-only subbie earnings.

As our Founder, David Jackson, said in that first edition of eNews: “No other business has this unique window on the going rate for payments made to subbies.  We share this information with our clients – and the industry – because it reflects current costs of on-site production.”

Here’s to the next 100 editions!

Please let us know if you’ve got a story for us, or if there’s an issue you’d like us to investigate.  Email:  davidjackson@hudsoncontract.co.uk