Contractors leave Barclays following 10% contracting rate cut
IT contractors are leaving Barclays following the bank’s decision to unilaterally impose a 10% rate cut, sources have confirmed to ContractorCalculator. Contractors have been told to accept the rate or leave by Friday 4 April 2014. “This is exactly the wrong time in the IT contracting market cycle for any bank to be taking such a risk with its IT,” warns ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin. “The best and most productive contractors are easily finding new contracts in such a buoyant market, leaving less qualified contractors and new starts to maintain Barclays’ IT systems and pick up existing projects.” More...
94% of public sector off-payroll contracts are ‘legitimate’
A review of the use of public sector off-payroll contracts by HM Treasury has showed only a tiny number – just 125 people – may have been ‘disguised employees’, out of a total of 1,940. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander confirmed that: “The vast majority of off-payroll contracts are in place for legitimate reasons.” PCG head of policy and public affairs Simon McVicker added: “[The] announcement from the Treasury is conclusive proof that as we said from the beginning, starting a ‘witchhunt’ of contractors working in the public sector was wrong and unnecessary.” More...
Contractor and recruiter bodies in bid to delay false self-employment rules
Contractor organisation PCG and recruiter body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) are attempting to delay the introduction of the false self-employment legislation in April 2014, and have written a joint letter to George Osborne. The Chancellor has been warned that the rules will reduce flexibility in key growth sectors of the economy, such as oil and gas, energy, construction IT and engineering. They may also put a brake on the economic recovery. More...
Construction and energy contractors share boost in activity due to bad weather
Construction and energy contractors have benefitted from the bad weather at the start of 2014, and hiring has increased across all nine industry sectors for the first time since 2008. The Manpower UK Employment Outlook for the second quarter of 2014 also shows finance and business services, where many core contracting disciplines are found, to be performing well, in second place in the demand league table. Large employers, which are the more typical contracting clients, are more confident about the economic recovery and are increasing hiring as a result. More...
Financial and IT contractor prospects improved further in February
Financial and IT contractor prospects were further improved during February 2014 as London’s financial district continued to generate new jobs. The latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor shows that job availability increased by 11% compared to the previous month. City jobs growth is being driven by the contract market as “hiring managers seek to test the water”, as “a significant proportion of firms [are] still cautious about investing in human capital”. More...
Engineering and financial contractors lead contracting market growth: APSCo
Engineering contractor demand grew by 10% year-on-year to the end of February 2014, and accounting and finance contractor placements grew by 41% over the last 12 months. This is according to the latest data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), which also highlights that “massive skills shortages across accounting and finance” are emerging. More...
Contractor demand growth slows across core contracting disciplines
Contractor demand growth across all core contracting disciplines, except for construction, slowed during February 2014. This came alongside falling agency billings, increasing rates, reduced contractor availability and a surge in permanent hiring. These results from the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs could be signs of either a faltering market or mounting skills shortages. REC CEO Kevin Green believes the cause is skills shortages: “The number of candidates available to fill vacancies continues to fall and this is becoming a business-critical issue in highly skilled roles.” More...
Contractor tax advisers generate support to block proposed avoidance rules
Contractor tax advisers have formed an alliance to convince accountants and businesses to join their campaign to amend or halt the proposed new tax avoidance scheme rules outlined in the ‘tackling marketed tax avoidance’ consultation. Douglas Aitken of consultancy Peak Performance told AccountingWeb’s John Stokdyk that the rules are: “Like police stopping a blue car for speeding and deciding that every blue car has been speeding. Then saying, ‘Let’s go back for the last 10 years and assume every blue car was speeding and retrospectively apply a fine to them.’ And there’s no right of appeal.” More...
Contractors using LLPs gain support from House of Lords to delay new tax rules
Contractors trading via limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and facing new tax rules gained support from a House of Lords Committee to delay implementing the rules – due for the start of April 2014 – until 2015. According to a report by Out-Law.com, “a last-minute reprieve…is unlikely”, but the Lords’ view echoes that of accountants and tax advisers who have warned that HMRC has pushed through the changes too quickly and without sufficient consultation. More...