Introduction
Commvault is an American publicly trading, data protection and data management software company, headquartered in Tinton Falls,New Jersey. Commvault enterprise software can be used for data backup and recovery, cloud and infrastructure management, retention and compliance.
They have 3000 employees globally, with a presence of around 250 employees in the UK.
Challenge
Commvault wanted a proactive partner - CEST is inadequate and insurance backed tools do not prevent an investigation being initiated, something which Commvault were keen to prevent due to the time investment required for any response or defence.
Commvault has a population of around 20 contractors providing a range of different service types, via agencies and directly into the business. The Commvault culture and policy is described as 'risk averse'.
In preparation for the April 2021 reforms, and to mitigate any risk of reputational damage, tax liability, or arduous investigations, Commvault needed a root and branch review of policy, process and current off-payroll status of each PSC and worker. The additional challenge was that some of the contractor suppliers were business critical and unlikely to want to operate on an 'Inside IR35' basis.
Solution
Commvault had a population of around 30 UK PSC contractors / workers providing a range of different service types:
- Direct to Commvault via procurement / direct to line managers
- Agency Off-Payroll
- Agency On-Payroll
- Third Party workers via strategic providers or micro-consultancies
- CoComply assessed all governance, policy, contracts and processes Commvault had in place, with consideration paid to the Beeline HR system in situ. Process and policy were updated, adapted and communicated to all stakeholders, third party suppliers and workers.
Critically, where there were critical contractors providing services, CoComply worked closely with line managers to re-engineer the engagements to make them compliant with an off-payroll status. This involved creating compliant SoWs that are regularly managed-and re-assessed and training for both contractors and line managers to ensure strong understanding of off-payroll working and compliance.
Results
- Commvault now has a seamless, robust IR35 and Worker Status working policy that is reportable and demonstrable to HMRC
- Re-Engineered engagements, which would otherwise have been deemed 'on-payroll', has saved Commvault in excess of £180,000 per year
- HR has significantly reduced the feeling of exposure and confidence in worker classification that is reportable to board and public authority level
- All workers and line managers have a significantly increased awareness of Off-Payroll working policy
- Proactive queries and checks by stakeholders to CoComply increased from close to zero to 20+ per quarter, preventing missteps
- Commvault is working with CoComply to roll out the policy to other international jurisdictions, such as the US