[surfingdino]

It started in 2019 with the introduction of IR35 legislation. HMRC scared the living daylights out of clients using contractors, they even went after the government contractors. That opened the market to umbrella companies and large consultancies who switched paperwork, lowered rates, then shipped roles offshore.

[graemep]

I did not think of that as a possible cause because I do not do any work that could conceivably fall under IR35. I did find the market pretty healthy until very recently myself.

I do think contractors were to blame too. Using ridiculous schemes (like the borrowing from an offshore company one) was only going to lead to a crackdown on both individuals and in general.

[surfingdino]

These schemes were used by high-profile celebs, not ordinary IT contractors. Most of the cases brought up by HMRC related to contracting are against umbrella companies or people who tried to be "clever" on a much smaller scale, certainly not trying to avoid paying hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds in tax.