Contractor prospects buoyed by Spending Round, but mostly not until beyond 2015
Most core contracting disciplines have done well from Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Round delivered to parliament on 26 June 2013. A further 144,000 public sector job losses will lead to new contracts across all core contracting sectors as public service providers use contractors to maintain services while reducing permanent headcount. However, with the exception of transport, many of the big infrastructure projects won’t come on stream for at least two years. More...
Contractors lose tax certainty as government “reserves the right to use retrospection”
Contractors no longer have tax certainty following the announcement by Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke during a Public Bill Committee hearing that, “We must reserve the right to use retrospection in wholly exceptional circumstances, in line with the protocol we have introduced”. The hearing was debating the proposed amendment Section 58(4) in the Finance Bill 2012-13 to 2013-14. If approved, the amendment would have removed retrospective tax legislation that had resulted in 1,900 ‘BN66 contractors’ facing cumulative tax bills of £220m. However, following Gauke’s statement, the amendment was withdrawn by its sponsor, Conservative MP Steve Baker. More...
Energy and engineering contractors to benefit from ‘greater than thought’ shale gas reserves
Energy and engineering contractors may be looking forward to a larger number of contracts associated with shale gas development. A BBC News report about a British Geological Survey (BGS) study on shale gas reserves beneath Lancashire and Yorkshire highlights that reserves may be “greater than thought”. A recent Institute of Directors report suggests that contractors can expect up to 74,000 new contracts and jobs as a result of shale gas development; the BGS report could mean that number will rise. More...
Offshore contractor numbers reach six-year high, driven by record North Sea investment
The number of oil and gas contractors working offshore in the North Sea has reached a six-year high as a result of record investment into the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Oil and Gas UK’s 2013 Offshore Demographics Report confirms almost 57,000 workers travelled offshore during 2012, and the number of those spending 100 offshore nights a year reached 25,760. “The UK oil and gas industry is growing steadily with record investment in new developments forecast this year, mounting interest in exploring for new reserves and fields expected to produce into the 2040s,” notes Oil & Gas UK’s employment and skills issues manager, Dr Alix Thom.
Contractors help public sector service providers to maintain services during austerity
Public sector service providers are turning to contractors to maintain service levels as budgets are cut due to austerity measures. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development/Hays Resourcing and Talent Planning survey highlights that Contractor vacancies across the public sector are double those in comparably sized private sector organisations. According to the report, the disparity reflects “the ongoing funding cuts as part of the Coalition Government’s measures to reduce the budget deficit”. More...
Contractor disciplines are leading the UK’s contract and employment growth
The IT and engineering professions have led the UK’s growth in contract opportunities and job vacancies during the last six months. Adzuna’s Job Market Report for June 2013 shows that over half a million IT and 700,000 engineering contract and job ads were posted since January 2013. Oil and gas workers are highlighted as the highest earners, with annual average pay at £47,908. And mobile app developers and web designers have enjoyed the fastest pay increases since the start of the year. More...
Contractors working through agencies unaffected by fixed-term worker rules
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that contractors working through agencies won’t be affected by the same legislation that covers fixed-term workers. According to the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), this confirms an important point on which it has lobbied the UK government for two years, “namely that the existence of rights under the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) should nullify the chance of employee rights being awarded to an agency worker”. More...
Finance and accounting contractor use grows 8% in 12 months
The use of finance and accounting contractors by UK companies has grown by 8% between 2011 and 2012, and contractors and temps now account for over a quarter of finance department headcounts. Research by recruiter Robert Half also shows that over a third of finance directors increased their use of contractors and temps. “By continuing to capitalise on the readily available and highly trained temporary and interim market,” says Robert Half UK managing director Phil Sheridan, “businesses can adjust more easily and quickly to workload variations, and bring in specialists with the required experiences to run particular programmes.” More...
Tax evasion overstated by media, reveals HMRC’s own statistics
The damage to the UK economy as a result of tax evasion is being overstated, according to figures obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons. The number of serious tax evasion cases handled by HMRC’s central Evasion Referral Team has fallen to 2,888 – a five-year low. Pinsent Masons tax expert Phil Berwick suggests that these figures do not “tally with the rhetoric from some quarters than the British economy is being undermined by a chronic under-collection of tax revenues”. More...
Contractors can now submit end of year expenses and benefits to HMRC online
Limited company contractors can submit P11D and P11D(b) forms detailing directors’ expenses online using a suite of new forms made available by HMRC from June 2013. HMRC highlights that the forms “offer an additional method of reporting expenses and benefits”. HMRC also suggests that limited company contractors may wish to consider applying for a dispensation, which would reduce paperwork and remove the requirement to report certain expense on the P11D. More...