Budget confirmed for 24th March
The 2010 Budget will take place on Wednesday 24th Match 2010 at 12:30pm. It seems likely that the need to deliver a strong debt-reducing budget will conflict with the government’s election agenda. ContractorCalculator will be providing coverage in the run up to and during the Budget, plus post-Budget analysis of the impact on contractors. More…
Hope for umbrella contractors, with challenge to Agency Workers Regulations
The Agency Workers Regulations that are due to come into force in 2011, and which threaten to put umbrella company contractors on a par with vulnerable agency workers, are being challenged by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), which claims they may not be legal. ARC’s chairman Adrian Marlowe says that the regulations should not apply when the recruitment agency has no direct contract with the worker. More…
Online recruitment surges 12%
The Monster Employment Index for Europe surged 9% from the previous month to reach its highest level since December 2008, with the UK outstripping the rest of Europe to increase by 12%. IT is leading this growth, confirmed by an upswing in demand for IT contractors. More…
Demand soars for IT contractors
IT contractors are back in demand, with the latest e-skills Bulletin covering the fourth quarter of 2009 reporting a 26% increase in demand on the previous quarter. But the bulletin warns that with thousands more IT workers now in the workforce, there are still 1.3 candidates for each job and contract advertised. It predicts there is unlikely to be a return to the IT skills shortages seen before the recession. More…
More IT contracts, but no extra pay
Nearly half of IT Directors have switched from firing to hiring mode, according to the latest IT Directors Survey from ReThink Recruitment. Unfortunately, the bad news is that for the 98% of IT contractors who had rates frozen or cut in 2009, 59% of IT Directors plan to freeze pay in 2010. ReThink Recruitment Director Michael Bennett confirms what many IT contractors already know: “The majority of IT professionals have seen their pay decline in real terms over the last two years.” More…
Contractor prospects for 2011 dampened?
Despite evidence of green shoots in 2010, contractors’ prospects for 2011 have been knocked by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) economic forecast, which is downgrading prospects for economic growth next year. According to BCC, the UK’s economic recovery started in the final quarter of 2009, but growth will be below average for the next few years. BCC’s chief economist David Kern says: “The UK’s economic prospects remain uncertain, our recovery is fragile and risks of a relapse are high.” More…
Retail sales rebound in February
Engineering, IT and technical contractors working in consumer goods sectors can draw cautions optimism from the rebound in February retail sales. The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor recorded a 2.2% increase in in-store sales compared to February 2009, with non-store (online, mail order and telephone) sales were up 15.5% on the previous year. More…