Contractors unaffected by holiday pay ruling, says Parasol
Umbrella company contractors who are employed by compliant service providers will be unaffected by the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling that overtime should be included when calculating holiday pay. “Genuinely compliant professional employment organisations and umbrella companies have always taken overtime into account when calculating holiday pay,” explains Juliet Byrne, legal and technical director at Parasol. “[The] ruling will therefore have no impact on either us or our employees. In any case, we expect the ruling to be appealed.” The cases that led to the ruling are Bear Scotland versus Fulton, Amec versus Law and Hertel versus Wood. More...
Contractors gain support of Enterprise Ambassador for National Freelancers Day
Contractors can expect the support of Lorely Burt, government Ambassador for Women and Enterprise, on National Freelancers Day (NFD). This year’s National Freelancers Day on 19 November will celebrate the record number of people choosing to go it alone, which stands at 4.58 million according to the latest ONS figures. “Record numbers of people across the UK are choosing self-employment so it’s hugely important that we celebrate these enterprising individuals,” notes Burt. “The decision to go it alone and start a microbusiness is an incredibly brave one and I’m delighted that National Freelancers Day gives them the recognition they deserve.” More...
Contractors warned by government and HMRC over tax avoidance
Contractors have received a stark warning from the government and HMRC about the implications of entering into tax avoidance schemes. In its list of ‘10 things a tax avoidance scheme promoter won’t always tell you’, HMRC makes multiple claims that appear to be deliberately designed to frighten contractors into complying. Financial Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke said: “The government has taken unprecedented steps to clamp down on the selfish minority who practise tax avoidance.” More...
Contractors can benefit from new contract review service from IPSE
Contractors can now benefit from a new contract review service launched by IPSE. Open to both members and non-members of the organisation, each review provides: “A detailed report offering amendments and improvements to the contract wording, as well as considering the day to day working practices of the engagement and concluding with a definitive IR35 'pass' or 'fail'.” Contractors pitching for public sector contracts can request specific assurance to give to their prospective client. More...
Contractors working in Scotland may face tax uncertainty, warn major clients
Contractors could be facing varying corporation tax, income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) that could damage the UK economy if too much tax power is devolved to the Scottish parliament. The Telegraph’s Scottish Political Editor Simon Johnson reports that big businesses and business organisations in Scotland have raised concerns that different tax systems would result in greater costs and increased tax avoidance. More...
Contractors filling talent gaps as clients fail to attract permanent recruits
Contractors are plugging talent and skills shortages in client organisations that are failing to attract permanent candidates to fill vacancies. According to new survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), growth in the professional staffing market continues to climb across all core sector groups. In the marketing sector, permanent vacancies have risen by 20%, but placements have actually fallen by 6% and salaries by 3%. APSCo believes that the15% increase year-on-year in demand for marketing contractors is because clients are not offering attracting packages. More...
Contractor hiring maintained, despite slow-down in business activity growth
Contractor hiring continued to increase across the UK manufacturing, construction and services sectors during October 2014, according to the latest set of Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMIs) from Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).
- Growth in the manufacturing sector has bounced back after September’s lows, with broad based growth across the industry. Hiring increased but was focused mainly in small to medium sized enterprises, shows the UK Manufacturing PMI
- According to the UK Construction PMI: “Higher levels of business activity have now been recorded for 18 consecutive months, which is the longest continuous period of growth since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007/08.” Furthermore, the report highlights that: “Construction companies continued to increase their staffing levels at a sharp pace in October.”
- The UK Services PMI reports that: “Companies recruited additional staff to the greatest degree in three months as capacity remained under some pressure”. October saw the “twenty-second successive monthly increase in incoming new work”.
Contractors must file self assessment tax returns online or face automatic fines
Contractors who missed the 31 October 2014 for paper self-assessment tax returns must file online by 31 January 2015 or face an automatic fine. Those contractors who have never filed online before, or who are new directors, before should contact their accountants or HMRC for assistance in registering for a Government Gateway account, or Unique Taxpayers Reference (UTR). Failing to submit a self-assessment tax return by the deadline attracts an automatic fine of £100. More...