Contractor agency billings reach 29-month high, but skills shortages loom
Contractor agency billings reached a 29-month high during July 2013, shows the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs. “The jobs market continues to skyrocket with permanent employment and temporary placements at three and two year highs, and vacancy growth accelerating to a six year high,” notes REC’s chief executive Kevin Green. However, Green warns of impending skills shortages: “Hourly rates for temp workers increased at the strongest rate since January 2008. This is an early indicator of increased competition for candidates and skills shortages in a growing number of sectors.” More...
Contractors should benefit from strong economic performance, but will new contract numbers fall?
Contractors across all core disciplines and most sectors should benefit from the economy’s improved performance. The UK’s services sector rose at its fastest pace since 2006, according to the latest Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) UK Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for July. Production data from the Office for National Statistics shows that manufacturing output increased during June at the fastest pace since the end of 2010. However, the renewed confidence may result in some clients choosing to hire permanent staff rather than contractors, so the number of new contracts may actually fall. More...
Digital marketing contractors top marcomms demand table, with hiring set to increase
Marketing contractors with digital skills are currently most in-demand and are commanding a price premium for their services. This is according to the Marketing Market Update 2013 published by recruiter Robert Walters. The update also shows that the business to consumer and financial services sectors have rising demand for marketers, whereas business to business won’t see improvements in hiring until later in 2013. Investment banking is the only financial sector area where hiring has not increased. The improving health of the UK’s financial sector also bodes well for IT contractor demand. More...
30,000 new wind energy contracts and jobs for ‘green collar’ contractors
Green collar contractors in the renewables field will benefit from up to 30,000 new jobs and contracts by 2020, according to the government’s new industrial strategy for the offshore wind industry. Developed in association with the industry body the Offshore Wind Industry Council, the strategy is designed to provide market confidence for investment, support innovation and build a skilled workforce. More...
Contractors can take annual salary following HMRC’s launch of RTI annual scheme
Contractors can now pay themselves annually and make a single submission under HMRC’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Initiative (RTI) following the introduction of a new annual scheme. Contractor accountants can apply for their contractor clients to join the scheme. However, HMRC is not making the process easy and won’t issue an acknowledgement that the application was successful. Plus any submissions and payments in addition to the annual scheme will revert the contractor’s payroll back to the monthly scheme. More...
Contractors face new “single compliance process” (SCP) from HMRC
Contractors are facing a new single compliance framework being implemented by HMRC. The taxman believes this will reduce the administrative burden for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), such as contractor limited companies. Trialled earlier in the year, HMRC “sees the SCP as a single framework within which the majority of future small and medium enterprise business compliance checks will be undertaken, catering for both single tax and cross-tax enquiries”. It does not explain what this means for IR35 investigations.
Contractors may see changes to how their employee benefits and expenses are taxed and reported
Limited company and umbrella company contractors, who are employees, may find that the way that their employee benefits and expenses are taxed and reported could change. An interim report by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) highlights that existing rules are very complex and, because they focus on preventing ordinary commuting costs from being claimed, fail to take into account mobile and home working. The OTS makes multiple recommendations, which include ‘payrolling’ benefits and creating a list of benefits and expenses that automatically qualify for a dispensation. More...
Middle-class professionals, such as contractors, targeted by HMRC for ‘low level’ evasion
More professionals, white-collar business people and buy to let landlords are being prosecuted by HMRC as it steps up its campaign to tackle tax avoidance. Figures obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons, and published by Out-Law, show that the number of prosecutions doubled in 2012-13 to 617, up from only 302 the previous year. Contractors are warned that their affairs are likely to come under even greater scrutiny as HMRC is targeting 1,165 prosecutions in 2014/15. More...
HMRC’s IT undergoes major change of leadership and, potentially, suppliers
HMRC has hired a new Chief Information Officer (CIO), Mark Dearnley who is currently CIO at Vodafone. It is also planning to break up its major IT services contract with Capgemini, which has cost HMRC £3.7bn over the last five years, into service integration and actual service delivery. The idea is to open up HMRC’s IT to smaller companies, potentially even individual contractors. As part of its service provider review, HMRC plans to hire more in-house developers, which may provide contract opportunities in the short term. More...
Contractors invited to contribute to tax-free childcare consultation
Contractors are invited to make their views known about the introduction of tax-free childcare by the government. As part of its 2013 Budget, the government proposed a new scheme that would provide 20% of working families’ childcare costs, up to £1,200 per child. Based on what was revealed during the Budget, experts voiced concerns over the potential complexity of the scheme, despite its benefits. The consultation sets out the government’s latest proposals, and contractors have until 14 October 2014 to submit their views. More...