You can contract outside IR-35 still, no? At least there were some advertised on LinkedIn last time I looked. If the contract is outside IR-35 then you can still claim expenses and pay corporate tax instead of (most) income tax.
The risk falls completely on the company these days. IR35 is a very nasty piece of legislation it’s difficult to even hire remote contractors outside of the UK with it without going through an established firm.
If HMRC catches you in violation of IR35 they can open the book and inspect any contracts over the past 10 years and retroactively penalize you. And by you I mean the “employer” in this case as in the company that hired you under contract.
No one is taking the risk today.