News

The Board of PIR International are delighted to welcome Peter Keen to our Advisory Committee. An experienced public and private company Non-Executive Director, Peter has sat on over 30 boards during his career. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Endomagnetics Ltd, a company improving cancer surgery outcomes; and the medical charity LifeArc which has assets significantly in excess of £1bn following the monetisation of the leading cancer drug Keytruda. Recent Directorships include SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc, a rare disease company that successfully listed on NASDAQ in September 2019, the Biotechnology Growth Trust plc, a £400m investment trust investing in global [...]

PIR International approached a range of BioLeaders for their thoughts on the current pandemic; with the benefit of their sector experience, their comments offer insights for the industry and policy makers; and practical thoughts on what individual companies are doing to ensure operational protocols are adjusted to continue to meet milestones. David Roblin, Chair of Translation Medicine at the Francis Crick Institute ‘…Our sector’s role is to innovate. Never has our work been more important. I would ask colleagues to be impatient with themselves but patient with physicians on the front line; they have a huge amount to cope with [...]

PIR International approached a range of BioLeaders for their thoughts on the current pandemic; with the benefit of their sector experience, their comments offer insights for the industry and policy makers; and practical thoughts on what individual companies are doing to ensure operational protocols are adjusted to continue to meet milestones. Jason Mellad, CEO of Start Codon ‘Historically, I feel that the Life Sciences industry has placed great focus on oncology therapeutics and tackling inherited or lifestyle diseases that are highly prevalent in wealthier nations. Too often infectious diseases have been viewed as a problem largely confined to developing nations [...]

In recent months, the world has faced its most significant peace-time crisis, effecting all corners of the globe. Like many others, we at PIR International have adopted new working practices to adapt and to continue to support our clients and candidates, who are developing lifesaving treatments and technologies for all diseases. We wish to take this opportunity to thank those developing these important medicines, diagnostics and those on the frontline in healthcare settings looking after all those in need, effected by COVID-19, but also all other diseases which continue to impact millions of lives worldwide. The international life science community [...]

Last night the government announced a postponement of the private sector IR35 tax reforms until 06 April 2021. The decision was made due to pressure from contractors, campaigners and the House of Lords who warned that the loss of work due to covid-19 for contractors deemed ‘inside IR35’ would be disastrous. Speaking in Parliament, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay said: “This is a deferral in response to the ongoing spread of covid-19 to help businesses and individuals.” “This is a deferral, not a cancellation and the government remains committed to reintroducing this policy to ensure people working like [...]

IR35 - Further guidance from HMRC as off-payroll working for the private sector comes into force. The Government has confirmed that the changes to off-payroll working will go ahead from 6 April 2020. However, they have made several amendments to address concerns raised during the review process, which we have summarised below. While this clarity is welcome, it won’t be until the implementation of the new rules that we see how well they work in practice. Many contractors and client entities alike continue to be unprepared for 6 April; With only weeks to go, organisations and individuals must consider the [...]

The exemption from the changes to the application of the IR35 rules may not be as straightforward as you think As most contractors should now be aware, changes to the IR35 employment status regime are coming into effect in April, which will significantly alter the tax treatment of consultants using personal service companies (PSCs) to supply large and medium-sized businesses if they are inside the IR35 rules.   The changes place the onus on those clients to determine whether their consultant falls within the IR35 regime, and provide them with a “status determination statement, or “SDS”.  Where the consultant is considered [...]

On 7 February 2020, HMRC issued draft guidance relating to the proposed new UK IR35 regime, in the form of updated sections of its Employment Status Manual (ESM). The main news is that HMRC have now confirmed that the new IR35 tax and NICs regime will apply only to services provided on or after 6 April 2020. This seems to flow from the draft legislation but had not been said before by HMRC and is a change from the 2017 regime. Otherwise the guidance has nothing particularly new – it seems to confirm our understanding of how the new regime [...]

The following is a collaborative piece, produced with our financial partners Price Bailey. Major changes are looming concerning the IR35 employment status regime. But while there is a lot of focus on preparing for the implementation of the new rules in April 2020, the good news is that the vast majority of SMEs will not be affected by the changes – at least, not as hirers. When IR35 was initially introduced back in 2000, it was up to the “worker” (or more accurately, their personal service company) to determine whether or not they fell within the IR35 criteria. That [...]

The following is a collaborative piece, produced with our financial partners Price Bailey. What is IR35 in a nutshell? IR35 was first introduced in 2000, and is designed to reduce tax avoidance by contractors who HMRC believe to be ‘disguised employees’ – people who work in a similar way to full-time employees but then bill for their services via their limited companies to make their business as tax efficient as possible.  Originally, IR35 employment status was declared by the contractor and not the hiring organisation. But in 2017, the rules changed significantly for the public sector, with the onus to [...]