Introduction
Based in Hampshire, The Royal Yachting Association is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and Sports boats.
A huge global entity, and home of the British Sailing Team, RYA utilises the services of hundreds of off-payroll workers to perform a variety of different and complex services from Olympic Coaches to Meteorologists.
Challenge
RYA has a population of around 350+ off-payroll workers (PSCs and Sole Traders) providing a range of different service types, predominantly directly into the organisation. RYA relies on government and private body funding for its continued success as a global powerhouse and UK representation in international competition. A misstep in compliance could threaten such funding and therefore the implications of non-compliance could be incredibly damaging.
In preparation for the April 2021 reforms, RYA required 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 did not want to begin working 'on-payroll'.
RYA did not trust insurance backed AI tools, they were looking for a genuine partner, that would understand their organisation and support managing compliance proactively and on-going, and wanted to avoid an investigation ever being launched.
Solution
CoComply assessed all governance, policy, contracts and processes RYA currently had in place, with consideration paid to the internal processes and systems. Process and policy was updated, adapted and communicated to all stakeholders, third party suppliers and workers.
Critically, where there are critical contractors providing services, CoComply works closely with line managers to re-engineer the engagements to ensure compliance with an off-payroll status. This involves creating compliant SoWs that are regularly managed and re-assessed. Training for both contractors and line managers to ensure strong understanding of off-payroll working and compliance is undertaken.
Where the engagements are to be moved to an 'On-Payroll' status, CoComply assisted RYA in managing this as effectively as possible from both a communication and policy perspective.
CoComply continues to manage the Off-Payroll population of workers, undertaking virtual assessments ensuring on-going compliance and reporting to authorities and governing bodies.
Results
- Reviewed and supported the RYA in there structure of contractual policy and detail around IR35 and Worker Status
- Virtually assessed worker groups and advised on and off-payroll status
- Re-engineered engagements and updated working practices where off-payroll working was possible in a compliant manner
- Delivered savings of £1m+ through compliant engagement re-engineering
- Saved 20+ hours per month of internal resource time dealing with queries and compliance
- CoComply now acts as the external compliance partner for RYA, dealing with adhoc queries, regular checks, ongoing training and reporting.