On 23 September 2022, the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, revealed a swathe of tax changes with one considerable surprise – a repeal of the Off-payroll working ("OPW") rules (Chapter 10 of ITEPA 2003), colloquially referred to as the "IR35 Reforms".

Most accountants know that OPW didn't land very well with businesses. OPW first entered the statute in 2017, applying to the public sector, before being rolled out to the private sector in 2021. The Governments Growth Plan document indicated (section 3.44) why he chose to repeal the legislation from April 2023. The reasons were to free up time and money for businesses that engage contractors, which could then be put towards other priorities, whilst also minimising the risk that genuinely self-employed workers are impacted by the underlying off-payroll rules.