Introduced within the Finance Bill 2020 is a requirement that clients provide an IR35 ‘status determination statement’ when assessing the IR35 status of contractors. This should be provided before a contract begins. 

A ‘Status Determination Statement’ (SDS) is a comprehensive statement from the client which:

- Declares the contractor's status following assessment

- Provides reasons for reaching that conclusion.

There are many online templates and resources available providing suitable documents which can be used for this. This article explains the software changes in Influence to allow people to record this information.

CONTENTS (Click an item to jump to the section)

- System Setup and parameters

- Overview

- Usage

System Setup

There are several parameters involved in setting up the system to store and warn about SDS documents. (Available in software versions after April 2020 )

Parameters

Parameter	Description
TEMPS, Flag(22) SDS Warn/Mand	Set this to W to warn if SDS is not on-file (recommended), or M for mandatory.
TEMPS, Integer(7) Match Document Slot for SDS Doc	Pick a Free/unused 'slot' to store the SDS document (See parameters Placement, Text (1-10) to check which slots are unused)
RECD, Flag(28) Default Value for SDS Req'd on main site	If this is ticked then ALL sites/clients are assumed to require SDS, otherwise it will need to be set on a client-by-client basis on the [Accounts] tab of their record.
Placement, Paths(2-10)	Can be used to set/create a specific folder to hold returned SDS documents.
Placement, Text(1-10)	Find a Free 'Slot' and Set the name for the document - use in conjunction with Temps, Integer(7)

The PAY TYPE [166] Code table needs to be amended to indicate which of the Pay Types you have setup need to perform the IR35/SDS Check.

Got to Maintenance > Setup > Code Tables
Select system area as C -  Contact Management, then code table Pay Types [166], and tick Extra Info [  ]. Put 1.0 into the "IR35" column for any relevant Pay types  (See below)

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Overview

The idea is that within the system each Match/Placement record has a space on the [DOCS] tab to allow an SDS document to be stored.
If an SDS document has not been stored then the system will warn the user at the time they try to place the contractor that there is no SDS on file.

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Usage

Use the [Accounts] tab of the client record to determine whether that client is required to supply an SDS document or not use the SDS Required  [Yes/No] (See below)

This may not be necessary if the system has been setup to assume 'Yes' for all sites, using parameter RECD, Flag(28).

When making a Booking for a TEMP;

Each time a Temp is placed for a new Role at a new Site, the system will create a MATCH record. If the site is flagged as requiring an SDS (or it is the system default) then if the worker is using a Pay Type which requires this (such as LTD) then the system will display a warning that there is no SDS on file.

If it is the FIRST time they are booked to work at a site, then you may wish to ignore the warning, make the booking and then drop the SDS into the relevant slot. 

To Store the SDS

Go into the [TEMP CENTRE] and then open the relevant Worker Record. Select the [Work History] tab and drill into the relevant Booking Match.
Select the [Docs] tab and Drag/drop the SDS document on.

When making a Placement for a contractor;

In these cases the system will NOT warn users, as it is expected that obtaining an SDS document would be part of the 'normal' process of placing a contractor into a contract vacancy and that consultants would do this when raising the relevant contracts and paperwork.

[This is different than booking TEMPS, when there is not specific paperwork raised each time a temp is booked to work.]

You can still use the facility to store the SDS document, as described below:

Go to the [MATCHES] tab of the Contract Vacancy and use the Navigator (>) to open the Match record, then choose the [DOCS] tab.

Drag/Drop the returned SDS document onto the [DOCS] tab, then Right Click and choose the option to make it into the SDS document.

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