IT contractors are part of one of the UK’s fastest-growing sectors
The UK’s IT sector is experiencing its fastest growth since the dotcom era, with 720,000 people working in it in March 2013. This is according to an analysis for the FT of Office for National Statistics data. An 11% year-on-year growth in IT worker numbers has been driven both by established organisations focusing more on technology and the rise of new internet firms, many of which are based around London’s Silicon roundabout (see below). In addition, offshoring companies are increasingly using UK-based IT workers. But the FT’s Henry Mance reports one area has seen little change over ten years: men still dominate the IT sector. More... [FT - £]
Start-ups in hot spots around the country likely to prove fertile ground for new contracts
With start-up businesses often keen to take on skilled contractors, rather than permanent employees, the signs are looking good for contracts to flow in key hotspots around the country. Chief among these is London’s Silicon Roundabout area (EC1V), which saw 15,720 start-ups in the twelve months to 31stMarch 2013, according to research by UHY Hacker Young. Other areas in London saw significant start-up growth, notably the SE1, SW1Y, E1 and E14 postal districts. Many new contracts are in technology, and in a recent Guardian article, James Parton noted: “The tech industry has exploded all across the UK, and not just in east London.” Outside London, start-up hotspots include Warrington (WA1), Brighton (BN1) and the SK9 area of Cheshire.
Cowboy umbrella companies should be driven out of the Wild West, says Parasol
Employment services provider Parasol Group is calling for the umbrella and outsourced employment sector to face the same levels of scrutiny and regulation as the banks and financial services firms. It wants the government to tackle the ‘Wild West-excesses’ of unethical and offshore umbrella companies. Regulation is “both inevitable and desirable”, according to Derek Kelly, Parasol’s managing director. He says: “Allowing unethical practices to persist unchecked would be unfair to contractors, recruiters and their clients – not to mention those employment providers that behave ethically and responsibly.” More...
Where might the next generation of contractors come from?
Recognising the urgency of what it calls the UK’s “chronic skills gap”, the Confederation of British industry (CB) is calling for action to ensure there are more advanced ‘learn as you earn’ training opportunities, as well as more business-designed degrees. This will require government to support better links between academia and industry, and to develop a vocational UCAS-style system. The CBI’s new report on the subject has some promising ideas, but it remains to be seen whether UK businesses are ready to invest in training the next generation of employees and contractors. More...
Thawing of London recruitment freeze may prove a double-edged sword for contractors
London contractors are likely to both celebrate and be concerned about the capital’s thawing recruitment freeze, identified by the latest CBI/KPMG London Business Survey. “The number of businesses freezing recruitment dropped to 17%, its lowest level in two years, down from 31% in December and 51% a year ago,” says the CBI. Whilst an end to the recruitment freeze may open up more contract opportunities, it could equally lead to a drop in contract numbers, as clients replace contractors with permanent employees. For now, the impact may well be negligible, as the CBI says that 68% of firms are still only hiring where essential. More...
Financial IT contractor advises on how to maximise the time you spend in contract
Building and maintaining a strong network, investing in cutting edge skills, having a ‘killer CV’ and delivering ‘value added’ services are the best routes to a regular stream of well-paying contracts. That’s according to veteran financial IT contractor and Oracle Java champion Peter Pilgrim. Interviewed by ContractorCaclulator, he says: “Although the UK’s financial sector is a huge consumer of IT contractor services, it is still a tight-knit community. So contact networks can be a valuable source of new work.”If you would like to share your contracting experiences with ContractorCalculators’ readers, get in touch and we may set up an exclusive interview with one of our journalists. More...
Oil and gas contractors could double their money in Australia
Australia’s oil and gas sector has seen a great demand for specialist contractors, with rates apparently following the classic rules of supply and demand. According to The Economist, “A recent survey of 53 countries found that Australian oil and gas workers earned an average of $163,600 a year, almost double the global average.” This has partly arisen out of what The Economist calls “Australia’s gas boom”, driven by technical advances and a ready nearby market in Asia’s “hungry gas markets”. More...
Government introduces measures likely to unlock shale gas contracts
Contractors in the extractive sector are likely to see a boost to new contracts in the shale gas sector over the coming years, as recently announced government measures and consultations start to accelerate UK exploration. As reported by Mondaq, the new measures include “a package of tax, planning and community benefits to help kick-start shale gas exploration in the UK.” In other recent fracking news, Reuters reported the death of the “father of fracking”, petroleum engineer George Mitchell. More...
Renewables seems to be where the big money is to be had in energy contracting
Up to 33% more can be earned by some energy contractors by switching from oil and gas to renewables. A three-month study by oilandgaspeople.com of 20,000 energy sector jobs found that renewables sector workers were earning between 0.5% (wind power) and 33% (fuel cells) more than they could in comparable oil and gas roles. "Employment levels are now stable in the [renewables] sector,” says oilandgaspeople.com chief executive Kevin Forbes, “but with continuing uncertainty over investment, wages will see small increases for some time." Despite the report showing large rate increases in renewables, oil and gas has its own hotspots, with some skills in short supply seeing rates rise by up to 17%. More...
ContractorCalculator finds HMRC’s claim to be answering calls within two minutes is hollow
Despite HMRC telling The Telegraph that 85% of calls to it are being answered in two minutes, reports from users tell a different story. It took Telegraph journalist Andrew Lindsay almost 24 minutes to have his call to HMRC's self-assessment helpline answered. In fairness to HMRC, he had made his call at 17:30. But when ContractorCalculator repeated the experiment, calling 0300 200 3310 from 10:30 on a Thursday morning, we were less lucky: the line was constantly engaged. More...