[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.