Posted By Rachel West Our company has used individual contractors for some time. Since the April budget, a few of our sole traders have opted to become employees of umbrella companies to get around IR35 requirements. As a result, I had my first supplier assessment land on my desk this afternoon for A N Other Umbrella Co. Ltd. The assessment was for an established contractor who had previously not needed to provide a written risk assessment due to the size of his company being limited to him and his cat. He is now one of 1200 proud employees of A N Other Umbrella Co. Ltd. The contractor in question carries out work which requires a risk assessment. Our company has a risk assessment in place that covers the activities of employees and contractors for the work. However... as far as I'm aware, a company that is directly employing this contractor to carry out work that my company is purchasing from said company has a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act and needs to provide a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regs. Am I being naive or missing a major precedent for umbrella companies under Health and Safety Legislation? I've just had a very polite conversation with the MD of A N Other Umbrella co. Ltd. who expressed great surprise that out of 7000 contractors, I was the first person to have the gall to suggest he may have some responsibilities for his employees that he is contracting out.

Posted By Rachel West I'm I haven't read the magazine yet. Is the article plainly applicable to umbrella companies? (Apologies for the question - my copy of the magazine is some 25 miles away and will be until the weekend!)