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18th December, 2000 - Judicial Review - Date
Set For Hearing
On 10 October 2000, PCG received permission in the High Court,
despite strong representations on behalf of the Inland Revenue,
to judicially review IR35. The date for the full three-day hearing
has now been set for 13-15 March 2000. This action is funded
entirely by PCG members, out of a separate legal fund established
for the purpose. We are now re-opening the legal fund and appealing
to all those who have not yet contributed to do so.
Funding the Challenge
In March 2000 PCG launched the fighting fund, and received pledges
for �500,000 in 3 days. We have since collected just over �600,000
from around 3,000 members.
Unfortunately legal actions are not easily subjected to fixed
budgets. The Inland Revenue took the highly unusual step of
opposing our permission hearing. This was not expected, and
increased our costs by some �200,000. However it also gave us
a preview of the IR's case, which has resulted in us commissioning
new (and expensive) expert evidence.
The IR has demonstrated its ability to ramp up the costs of
this case. Some have suggested this may be a deliberate tactic
to "break the bank". Hence we have produced revised budgets
including these extra costs and allowing a greater contingency.
For obvious reasons we think it best to keep the detailed budget
confidential.
We can reveal that we currently have funds to pay for the main
hearing in March, and to meet all liabilities if we lose. But
to be sure of being able to fund the various stages of appeal,
we are re-opening the fund with a new target of �1 Million.
We believe this will be enough to fund the case to its conclusion,
but we cannot rule out a further appeal at some future date.
New Appeal
Two thirds of PCG members have not yet contributed to the legal
fund. Many of those have joined since the original appeal. In
the first instance we are inviting those members who have not
yet contributed to make a donation. However anyone who has already
given but wishes to increase their contribution can do so.
An online facility for contributions by credit card is;
Here
Full JR details are available in the new legal section of
the PCG site;
Here
Susie Hughes (Head of Executive Services)
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