Contractors have a strategic window to exploit the UK’s skills gaps
Contractors have a strategic window to maximise contract opportunities arising from the UK’s acute skills shortages. The latest PricewaterhouseCoopers 16th Annual Global CEO survey highlights that few of the UK’s business leaders are planning to take action now , despite 65% claiming skills shortages are hampering growth. According to the research, “mining, energy, engineering and construction companies report the most chronic shortage of skilled employees”. More...
Contractor demand dips during April, but shows strong quarterly growth
Contractor demand fell marginally during April 2013, according to the Reed Job Index, although the UK’s labour market continues to show growth on a quarterly and year-on-year basis. Reed.co.uk’s chairman James Reed believes the dip was seasonal and the trend is still upwards: “April saw a steadying of the jobs market, with a slight dip due to an expected seasonal fall following the Easter Bank Holidays. So far this year, the Reed Job Index has been showing a clear and continuing trend for growth.” More...
Contractor prospects improved by looser corporate credit conditions
Contractor prospects look brighter following the news that bank lending to UK business is to grow for the first time in four years. The Ernst & Young ITEM Club outlook for financial services predicts that lending will grow by £440bn in 2013. What this means to contractors is that client projects shelved or postponed due to tight credit conditions are now more likely to be revived and properly funded. The result should be a stream of new projects and contracts. The improving credit conditions within the financial sector itself should benefit financial IT and other finance contractors. More...
Construction and manufacturing show early signs of recovery
The latest Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Indexes (PMIs) for the construction and manufacturing sectors both highlight industries that are still suffering, but at last showing early signs of recovery. Discussing the encouraging April 2013 manufacturing survey, David Noble of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, said: “A march of the makers may be on its way following the first rise in export sales for a year.” As for April’s construction survey, Markit’s Tim Moore says it “highlights a cautious degree of positive sentiment about the year-ahead outlook”. However, he noted that total new work dropped for the eleventh month running in April, and this reduces the likelihood of improved employment.
Contractor complaints about HMRC increasingly falling on deaf ears
Contractor complaints about HMRC’s conduct in its treatment of them are increasingly being rejected, according to data acquired under the Freedom of Information Act by accounts Saffery Champness. Reuters’ Chris Vellacott writes that: “[HMRC] fully upheld 30% of the 75,568 complaints processed between 2011 and 2012, down 39% in previous years.” Saffrey Champness partner Ronnie Ludwig told Vellacott: “HMRC is getting nastier.” More...
Contractors’ cash is less safe in British tax havens, says HM Treasury
Contractors trying to avoid or evade tax are now less likely to be able to do so using British overseas territories such as Anguilla,Bermuda, theBritish Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands Montserrat and theTurks and Caicos Islands. That’s according to the Treasury, which has hailed “a turning point in the fight against tax evasion and illicit finance”, now that these territories and Crown dependencies have agreed to “much greater levels of transparency of accounts”. More...
An Australian-style ‘roll-back’ of the contracting sector is unlikely to hit the UK
Despite contractor numbers in Australia falling by 130,000 between November 2010 and November 2012 to 980,000, UK contractors would appear to be less at risk of such a dramatic decline. That’s according to ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin, who says that even at the heights of his attacks on the contracting model, former Chancellor and Prime Minister Gordon Brown “never tried to deny the UK’s contractors and sole traders basic business and company registrations, as has happened in Australia”. He also notes that any future fight to defend contractors is likely to have strong support from private and public sector clients. More...
UK interim managers in demand abroad – mainly in continental Europe, but also in Asia
UK-based interim managers are increasingly working in continental Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, where their talents are in demand. That’s according to the Interim Management Association (IMA), part of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). And interims are not just in demand in Europe, but also in parts of Asia,” says Jason Atkinson, IMA chairman and managing director of Russam Interim. He is unsurprised by the demand, noting that: “The UK has the most established interim market globally These top-flight executives have a strong understanding of governance and many also have strong language skills, enabling them to take their skills to new markets.” More...
PM: Married contractors to be given tax breaks within two years
Despite Liberal Democrat opposition, the Prime Minister has insisted that before the next general election married contractors can expect to receive tax breaks. Writing in The Telegraph, Peter Dominiczak reports David Cameron as saying: “The Coalition agreement specifically said that while the Liberal Democrats don’t agree with [Tory plans to recognise marriage in the tax system] they would abstain if we promoted them and that’s exactly what we’ll do before the end of this Parliament.” More...
Contractors who still haven’t filed their 2011/12 tax returns now being fined £10/day
More than half a million taxpayers, including contractors, are now being hit with daily fines after failing to file their 2011/12 tax returns. Sky News reported that HMRC had already fined about 850,000 people £100 each, but from 1 May 2013 those who still hadn’t submitted tax returns are being fined £10/day, up to £900. If the returns are still not returned after a further six months, people face a further £300 fine or 5% of the tax due. An HMRC spokesman told Pete Norman of Sky News: "Non-filers have to file to avoid further penalties or contact us to ask to be taken out of self-assessment, and provided they meet the criteria, we will take them out of SA and cull any penalties incurred." More...
Contractor accountants and tax advisers essential for formulating good tax law
Contractor tax advisers and accountants play a vital role in the formulation of good tax law. This is according to the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) in its response to the Committee for Public Accounts (PAC) report into the role of large accountancy firms in tax avoidance. “Secondments to and from HMRC, provided done openly and transparently, are completely appropriate,” says CIOT chief executive Peter Fanning. This came in response to the criticism of Margaret Hodge MP that the secondees to the Treasury and HMRC from the big accountancy firms discovered or helped develop loopholes that they then advised clients to exploit.