Contractor prospects buoyed by an economy “moving from flat to growth”
Contractor prospects for the year ahead have been buoyed by the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) latest economic forecast that the UK economy will grow by 1% during 2013. According to CBI director-general John Cridland “the UK economy is moving from flat to growth”. Business investment is likely to remain muted this year, but is expected to rapidly escalate during 2014, which potentially means more projects and contracts for contractors. The Bank of England has also revised up its growth forecasts. More...
Financial IT contractor demand suffers from slow economic recovery
Demand for financial IT contractors in London’s financial sector continues to suffer as a result of slow economic growth. Bloomberg’s Ambereen Choudhury reports that Morgan McKinley’s London Employment Monitor shows City vacancies in April 2013 were 5% fewer compared to March, and 22% lower than in the same period last year. The UK’s financial sector is one of the largest consumers of IT contractor services, and its fortunes impact directly on contractor prospects. More...
Oil and gas contractors pressured by clients to become employees
Oil and gas contractors are under increasing pressure from skills-starved clients to become full-time permanent employees, as energy and services firms attempt to hoard key skills. Law firm Bond Dickinson’s Kenny Paton writes in the 18th Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce Oil and Gas Survey: “The survey shows rising employment and the continuing skills shortage is a key factor in driving companies to retain people by making them permanent employees, rather than contract staff.” More...
Contractor umbrellas may adopt agency role following possible deregulation
Contractor umbrella companies may threaten recruiters in the agency and employment business space. This is the view of law firm Lawspeed, which highlights that should any major changes to the conduct regulations and Employment Agencies Act occur, which are currently under consultation, barriers to umbrellas acting as recruiters may be removed. Lawspeed managing director Adrian Marlowe warns: “The vast majority of umbrella companies no doubt have no plans to compete, [but] it is clear that some now have ambitions beyond being simply ‘payroll providers’.” More...
Drop in contractor numbers in part-time self-employment
Self-employment fell to a 12-month low in the quarter to March 2013, falling to 4.176m from 4.218m in the quarter to December 2012. However, the sharp drop in self-employed contractor numbers shown in the Office for National Statistics’ latest Labour Market Statistics was almost entirely due to a fall in part-time worker numbers, suggesting the impact on the mainstream contractor and freelancer community may be slight. More...
Media and entertainment contractors may get NIC breaks
Media and entertainment contractors may get National Insurance Contribution (NIC) breaks following a consultation by HMRC proposing to simplify NICs for entertainers. According to a report by Christopher Hope in the Telegraph, the objective is to “help freelance entertainers who only work sporadically” and to “keep celebrities and actors in the UK and stop them from emigrating”. Actors, musicians and entertainers could collectively save an estimated £50m in NICs as a result of the scheme. More...
Construction contractors to benefit from commercial property recovery
Construction contractors who have had a tough time during the recession may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The source of this illumination is eight consecutive months of growth in the private commercial property development sector. And although public sector project numbers have slumped, the latest Savills Commercial Development Activity index shows commercial activity is increasing across the UK. “Now might be the moment to stop focusing on downside risks, and actually admit that the development market is recovering,” says Savills’ director of building consultancy Michael Pillow. More...
Contractor recruiters and building firms feature in HMRC’s latest tax defaulters list
Several contractor recruiters and construction firms have appeared in HMRC’s latest tax defaulters list, in which it ‘names and shames’ individuals and companies making deliberate errors in tax returns, or deliberately failing to comply with their tax obligations. It is the second of such lists published by HMRC, and the taxman hopes to recover significant amounts of unpaid tax and penalties as a result of the strategy. More...
Finance sector contractors can check day rates on the go with new mobile app
Contractors working across a range of disciplines in the finance sector can check day rates on the go with a new mobile app from financial recruiter Robert Walters. The app allows contractors to specify country, city/location, specialism, financial expertise and role type to find three-year average day rates. So, for example a London-based IT contractor working as a business analyst in investment banking was on between £500 and £750 per day during 2011, but the app shows this as having fallen to £425-£650 per day in 2013. More...
Contractors may be the target of yet more HMRC taskforces
Contractors may be the target of yet more HMRC taskforces announced by the taxman recently. Fresh targets include holiday home owners in East Anglia, VAT registered businesses in London and restaurateurs in Northern Ireland. According to HMRC, “taskforces are specialist teams that carry out intensive bursts of activity in specific high-risk trade sectors and locations in the UK”, and have been responsible for raising £70m in additional tax in the 2011/2012 tax year.