Changes to the off-payroll working rules coming into force this month will relieve scaling businesses of costly compliance obligations. Yet contractors who fail to adjust their rates risk being caught out, writes Business Matters.

From this month, a raft of amendments to the UK’s IR35 tax legislation will redraw the lines of responsibility between businesses and the freelancers they engage. For thousands of companies that have until now shouldered the burden of determining whether their contractors fall inside or outside the off-payroll working rules, the changes promise welcome relief. For freelancers, however, the picture is rather more complicated.

IR35, in essence, is the government’s mechanism for ensuring that individuals who work through intermediaries such as personal service companies, but whose engagements resemble those of employees, pay a broadly equivalent amount of income tax and National Insurance. According to HMRC, the framework has already shifted more than 130,000 workers into deemed employment tax status since 2021 – a figure that underscores both its reach and its continuing impact on the UK’s contracting workforce.

Under the current regime, responsibility for determining a contractor’s IR35 status rests largely with the hiring organisation – provided that organisation qualifies as medium or large under company law. Smaller companies have been exempt, with the onus falling instead on the contractor’s own personal service company. The April 2026 changes significantly raise the bar for what constitutes a “small” company, meaning many more businesses will now fall beneath that threshold and be freed from compliance duties.

A wider net for the small company exemption

Previously, a company qualified as small if it met at least two of three criteria: annual turnover of no more than £10.2 million, a balance sheet total of no more than £5.1 million, and no more than 50 employees. From April 2026, the turnover ceiling rises to £15 million and the balance sheet limit to £7.5 million, whilst the headcount threshold remains unchanged at 50 staff. The consequence is that a significant number of businesses that were previously classified as medium-sized will now be treated as small, and the obligation to issue a Status Determination Statement – the legal document setting out whether a contractor sits inside or outside IR35 – will pass back to the contractor.

Vincent Huguet, chief executive and co-founder of Malt, the European freelance talent platform, welcomes the reforms but sounds a note of caution. The shift in thresholds, he says, helps to move responsibility away from hiring managers, allowing them to concentrate on when and what they need rather than worrying about the tax implications of every engagement. Yet he warns that neither companies nor freelancers should become complacent.

The end of double taxation?

Alongside the threshold changes, the government is introducing a PAYE set-off mechanism designed to address one of the more contentious aspects of the existing rules. Until now, where a client failed to apply IR35 correctly, HMRC could pursue the full PAYE and National Insurance bill from the deemed employer without accounting for tax already paid at the contractor’s end through their personal service company. The new mechanism allows HMRC to offset those prior payments when calculating any outstanding liability.

Huguet describes this as an important step towards eliminating double taxation, noting that it removes the risk of a freelancer ending up paying more than their fair share and properly accounts for historic tax records.

Pricing: the freelancer’s blind spot

For contractors, however, the real sting may lie in the detail of their own rate cards. With a greater share of compliance responsibility now resting with them, freelancers must ensure their pricing properly reflects the full cost of engagement. Last year’s increase in employer National Insurance Contributions from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, coupled with the reduction in the payment threshold from £9,100 to £5,000 annually, has already made hiring more expensive. Because employer NIC is deducted from the assignment rate before a contractor’s pay is calculated, those costs feed directly into negotiations – whether the contractor is deemed inside or outside IR35.

Huguet’s message to freelancers is blunt: get your pricing right. Those who fail to factor in these shifting obligations risk undervaluing their services at precisely the moment when the regulatory landscape demands they take greater ownership of their tax affairs. For businesses, particularly those that find themselves newly reclassified as small, the changes offer a chance to engage freelance talent with less red tape – but only if both sides of the arrangement understand what is now expected of them.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

TEHRAN, Iran — Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA), Iran’s primary gateway for international travel, stayed mostly shuttered for routine commercial flights on Wednesday, with only a handful of pre-authorized or military-linked operations reported as the country navigated the fragile two-week ceasefire framework announced by President Donald Trump and Iranian officials.

Flight tracking sites and aviation authorities showed near-zero commercial activity at the airport south of Tehran on April 8. Major trackers including FlightStats and Flightradar24 listed no departing or arriving commercial flights during much of the day, while scattered reports of Mahan Air cargo or limited long-haul movements to destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai appeared tied to special permissions rather than normal schedules.

The airport has operated under severe restrictions since late February when the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iranian targets escalated, triggering retaliatory actions and widespread airspace closures across the region. Iranian NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) have repeatedly extended prohibitions on civilian aviation in the Tehran Flight Information Region, citing security concerns and active air defense measures. Even after the ceasefire announcement late Tuesday, no immediate full reopening was declared.

The Civil Aviation Organization of Iran and airport management have not issued a clear timeline for restoring normal operations. Officials urged passengers to avoid traveling to the facility unless they hold confirmed tickets on the extremely limited wartime schedule or are collecting arriving passengers on approved flights. Foreign carriers, including Turkish Airlines, Emirates and others, have suspended service to Tehran for weeks, with many extensions running into late April or beyond.

A small number of flights, primarily operated by Iranian carriers such as Mahan Air or Iran Air, continued on a case-by-case basis with prior military clearance. These included occasional cargo or repatriation movements, but passenger capacity remained heavily restricted and subject to last-minute cancellation. International airlines continued to reroute around Iranian airspace, adding hours and costs to long-haul routes between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The situation mirrors challenges seen at other regional hubs during the conflict. Like Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, IKA has balanced limited civilian needs with heavy military use of facilities and surrounding airspace. Damage reports from earlier strikes near radar installations and infrastructure added caution to any resumption plans. Airport terminals appeared quiet, with reduced staff handling essential services for the few movements that occurred.

Travelers face significant hardship. Thousands of Iranians and foreign nationals remain stranded abroad or inside Iran, with many seeking overland routes through neighboring countries or waiting for rare approved flights. Families separated by the conflict have shared stories of canceled weddings, medical treatments and business trips. Ticket sales for departures from IKA stayed largely suspended, and refund processes proved slow and complicated.

The two-week ceasefire, which hinges on safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and de-escalation steps, has raised cautious hopes for gradual normalization of aviation. Iranian officials indicated that once the Home Front Command and military authorities declare conditions safe, civilian flights could resume incrementally. However, as of Wednesday morning, no such declaration had come, and NOTAMs restricting Tehran FIR remained in effect or recently extended.

Aviation experts noted the unprecedented strain on Iran’s air transport sector. IKA normally handles millions of passengers annually, serving as the main hub for long-haul connections to Europe, Asia and the Persian Gulf. The prolonged closure has hurt tourism, trade and the national carrier Iran Air, while boosting demand for alternative routes via Turkey, Armenia or indirect connections through the Gulf. Cargo operations have also suffered, affecting supply chains for essential goods.

Inside the airport, security remained heightened. Passengers on the few permitted flights underwent enhanced screening, and terminal areas outside active gates stayed mostly empty. Maintenance crews continued routine work in preparation for eventual full reopening, but daily activity stayed far below normal levels. The public was generally advised to stay away to reduce congestion and security risks.

Broader economic impacts ripple far beyond aviation. Exporters relying on air freight, businesses with international ties and the tourism sector — already strained before the conflict — face extended recovery timelines. Iranian authorities have coordinated with neighboring countries for limited land border crossings, though those options carry their own logistical and security challenges.

The ceasefire framework announced by Trump, involving a temporary suspension of attacks in exchange for Iranian commitments on maritime safety, offers a potential off-ramp. Yet analysts warn that any violation or breakdown could quickly reimpose full closures. Markets reacted positively to the news with falling oil prices and rising equities, but aviation insiders remain focused on ground-level implementation rather than headlines.

For now, IKA stands as a symbol of how conflict can ground even vital infrastructure. Its modern terminals, expanded in recent years to accommodate growing traffic, now echo with far fewer footsteps. Ground handlers and airline staff manage skeletal operations while awaiting clearer guidance from Tehran and military command.

Travelers with urgent needs continue monitoring official channels, airline apps and sites such as Flightradar24 for any updates. The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization’s website and airport social channels provide the most authoritative notices, though information sometimes lags behind fast-moving events. Those already holding tickets on limited flights should confirm status directly with carriers and arrive with extra time for security protocols.

As April 8 progressed with no major new announcements, many Iranians checked news sites and flight trackers hoping for signs of normalization. The two-week window provides breathing room for diplomacy, but full restoration of IKA’s busy schedule could take additional days or weeks even after a sustained truce.

The airport’s resilience has been tested before during periods of regional tension, with operations typically rebounding quickly once threats subside. Yet the scale and duration of the current disruptions — involving direct strikes and prolonged airspace closures — mark this as one of the most challenging episodes in its history.

For the global community with ties to Iran, the status of Imam Khomeini Airport carries both practical and symbolic weight. Safe and open skies represent a return to normalcy; their restriction underscores the human and economic costs of prolonged instability.

As the day continued without a breakthrough reopening, passengers and airlines alike prepared for more uncertainty. The coming hours and days will determine whether the ceasefire translates into tangible relief for travelers or remains a fragile pause in a volatile chapter.

Authorities continue to emphasize that safety remains the top priority. Any resumption will follow careful assessment by Iranian military and civilian officials. In the meantime, IKA operates in survival mode — open in name but far from business as usual.

A public spat has broken out among China’s leading artificial intelligence companies as they rush to fill the void left by US startup Anthropic’s decision to cut off access to its Claude models through OpenClaw, a popular open-source AI agent tool.

Key takeaways

• Anthropic’s decision to block Claude’s access to third-party tools like OpenClaw has handed Chinese rivals MiniMax and Xiaomi a ready-made recruitment opportunity.
• Shanghai-based MiniMax publicly accused Anthropic of stifling AI innovation by locking subscriptions to its own first-party products.
• The clash is unfolding amid a worsening global shortage of computational power, driven by surging demand for AI tokens from the rapid growth of AI agents.

Anthropic announced on Sunday that Claude subscriptions would no longer cover usage on third-party tools like OpenClaw, citing the need to prioritise existing customers of its own products.

The decision has sent ripples through the AI developer community and opened a window of opportunity that Chinese rivals have been quick to exploit.

Companies MiniMax and Xiaomi both moved swiftly, encouraging users to switch to their own token subscription plans in the wake of Anthropic’s announcement.

But the competition has not been without friction. Shanghai-based MiniMax took to X to publicly accuse Anthropic of damaging the broader AI community through its new restrictions, arguing that more good ideas of how to use AI come from outside AI labs than within them, and that limiting subscriptions to first-party products stifles innovation before it can take hold.

The commercial battle is unfolding against a broader and more troubling backdrop. The explosive growth of AI agents has triggered a dramatic surge in demand for AI tokens, the core unit by which AI usage is measured, raising serious questions about whether the industry can sustainably meet that demand amid a worsening global crunch in computational power.

Analysts are watching closely to see whether Anthropic’s move reflects a strategic retreat or a necessary triage, and whether Chinese companies can convert the moment into lasting market share, or whether the same resource constraints that pressured Anthropic will ultimately close in on them too.

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Brits are freezing home moves amid fears mortgage rates could soar

House prices dropped in March as the uncertainty caused by conflict in the Middle East stifled the property market and spiked fears of interest rate rises. Average house prices fell 0.5 per cent last month, reversing the modest 0.3 per cent February increase, according to Halifax’s house price index.

It is the latest signal the Iran war is shaking confidence in the UK property sector as Britons freeze home moves amid fears mortgage rates could soar. The average property price fell to £299,677 in March, as annual price growth slowed to 0.8 per cent, down from 2.1 per cent in February.

Property prices continue to slump in London, down 1.2 per cent in the year to March, to an average of £536,751, as reported by City AM.

Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said: “The recent slowdown in the housing market reflects the wide uncertainty regarding the conflict in the Middle East.

“Concerns about higher energy prices have pushed up inflation expectations, which in turn led to a rise in mortgage rates, reducing confidence that interest rates will be cut this year and dampening the initial momentum in the market seen at the start of the year.”

Recent data showed signs the UK’s property market was beginning to recover from a subdued period surrounding the Budget, before the Iran war broke out.

Mortgage approvals rebounded in February following a two-year low the previous month, with other house price indices indicating the market was gradually regaining momentum in February and March.

However, experts remain split over whether the Iran war – which housebuilders claim has dented buyer confidence – will present a prolonged threat to the property market.

The Iran war prompted lenders to withdraw mortgage products at considerable speed, with the number of available deals having fallen by a fifth since hostilities began.

Last week, analysts at Nationwide warned that the prospect of multiple Bank of England interest rate rises this year – despite several cuts having been anticipated just months ago – could push mortgage rates higher, undermining affordability.

Bryden noted that the mortgage rate increases witnessed so far remain below those triggered by Liz Truss‘ notorious 2022 mini-Budget.

Several housebuilding firms have urged the government to improve affordability for first-time buyers, which would subsequently stimulate the market by making new home construction more commercially viable.

Major property industry players – including estate agency Foxtons and housebuilder Berkeley – have indicated that government regulation and tax policies are creating significant challenges for their operations.

Property consultants Knight Frank suggested that the two-week ceasefire brokered between the US and Iran on Tuesday night could provide a boost to the property market, though an immediate turnaround appears unlikely.

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research, said: “What goes up must come down, but for mortgage rates the drop will be more gradual than the sharp increase triggered by the Middle East conflict, even if the two-week ceasefire deal holds.

“Sentiment in the housing market will improve if the war stops, but its longer-term inflationary impact and weaker demand for UK government debt due its tight financial headroom and apparent inability to cut spending means mortgage rates won’t snap back to where they were in February.”