IT, HR and financial contractors benefit from City’s improved performance
Contractors from multiple disciplines, including IT, human resources (HR) and finance, are benefitting from a bounceback in the fortunes of London’s financial sector. The Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor for March 2014 reports that it is IT, HR and risk specialists that financial clients are particularly seeking. According to Hakan Enver, operations director of Morgan McKinley Financial Services, although contractor demand is stabilising generally, in these specific areas it continues to increase.” More...
Contractor numbers continue to rise as self-employment reaches a record 4.5m
Contractor, freelancer and self-employed numbers reached a record high of 4.5m during the three-month period to the end of February 2014. The Labour Market Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also show that the UK’s overall employment has risen by 239,000, which means the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.9%. Pay for the average worker has also improved, catching up with inflation for the first time in nearly six years. More...
Contractors should receive greater support from government, says PCG
Contractors should be better served by government and services organisations, particularly those in the financial services sector. This is according to the PCG’s director of policy and public affairs, Simon McVicker, who highlights the record numbers of self-employed workers in the UK. “Every time the ONS releases new figures on the labour market, we see that the number of people in business on their own account has gone up significantly,” says McVicker. “I’d like to know how large that figure has to get before Britain’s self-employed people are given the backing they deserve.” More...
IT contractors have the opportunity to become “business consultants, brokers and advisers”
IT contractors “must evolve from single-source providers to business consultants, brokers and advisers, or risk becoming marginalised in the technology-driven economy.” That is the conclusion of a new report featured in an article by Computer Weekly’s Caroline Baldwin. IT services provider CA Technologies surveyed 1,300 senior IT leaders across 22 countries to create the report. “We are seeing a seismic shift in the way new technology is seen, purchased, used and deployed across UK organisations,” notes CA’s chief technology officer Martin Ashall. More...
Contractor recruiters need specialist support to help with compliance
Contracting industry recruiters require specialist support when hiring flexible workers, such as contractors and freelancers. The Freelancer and Contractor Services Association highlights that the legislation surrounding temporary labour is complex and requires specialists to ensure compliance. CEO Julia Kermode says her members are “vastly experienced in this field”, providing “a long term value enhancement for everyone involved”.
Contractors with funds offshore face further threat from new tax evasion powers
Contractors with funds held offshore face a further threat from HMRC when the taxman gains new tax evasion powers later in the year. Accountancy Age’s Calum Fuller highlights that previously, HMRC had to demonstrate that a contractor with undeclared funds offshore was deliberately evading tax, but that principle is set to change. The government plans to legislate to make it a criminal offence with a possible prison sentence “for people holding undeclared money offshore, even if they did not intend to evade taxes”. More...
Oil and gas contractors could benefit from new oil and gas province offshore Ireland
Oil and gas contractors may have a new oil and gas province, with the promise of more contracts and jobs, if exploration efforts off the Atlantic coast of Ireland come to fruition. Proactive Investor’s Jamie Ashcroft reports that Europa Oil and Gas will decide whether to drill a two well programme in summer 2014, after reviewing 3D seismic data. A new oil and gas province in the region could see Cork becoming a ‘new Aberdeen’ for contractors. More...
Oil and gas contractor prospects boosted by Statoil’s Aberdeen plans
Oil and gas contractor prospects in Aberdeen and offshore in the North Sea will be boosted by Norwegian state oil energy company Statoil’s plans to grow its presence in the city and develop the Mariner oil and gas field. STV News reports that an estimated 200 new contracts and jobs will be created in Statoil’s North Sea headquarters in the outskirts of Aberdeen, with a further 500 new production jobs and contracts created offshore when production starts in 2018. More...
Online contractor demand driven by mobile, 3D printing, concept design and architectural jobs
Demand online for contractors through the online business marketplace Freelancer.co.uk is dominated by the mobile, 3D printing, concept design and architectural sectors. Results from the firm’s first quarter ‘Freelancer Fast 50’ show that 270,000 jobs were posted on the site, which included a resurgence in content strategy demand, with ghost writers and copywriting contractors experiencing a renaissance in the wake of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates. More...
Construction contractors to gain late payment relief
Construction contractors could expect clients in the UK to pay invoices within 30 days as soon as 2018. According to Out-Law.com, a plan drawn up by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) “will commit clients…that sign it to pay all suppliers within 60 days immediately. This would then be reduced to 45 days from June 2015, and to 30 days by January 2018.” The move could mean contracting direct, rather than via an agency that pays regularly, becomes a more viable option for many contractors in the industry. More...