Engineering and technical contractors in short supply, highlights REC JobsOutlook
Technical and engineering contractors, along with interim management contractors, have been the hardest to recruit during the third quarter of 2014. The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) JobsOutlook for September/October 2014 also highlights that skills shortages are worsening. REC CEO Kevin Green explains: “The UK’s workforce is lean with minimal spare capacity and growing shortages of workers with the skills to fill the jobs that are currently available.” More...
Contracting sector growth in Scotland led by video gaming and oil and gas
Contractor opportunities in Scotland have been driven by rising demand from Aberdeen’s oil and gas industry and contractor shortages in Dundee’s video game development centre. The Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs for September 2014 also shows that the core contracting disciplines of IT & computing and engineering & construction are performing well, occupying second and third place respectively in the demand league tables. More...
Construction contractor clients hit by HMRC investigations yielding a record £131m
Construction contractor clients paid out a record £131m in additional tax during 2014-13, an increase of 7% from the previous year as a result of HMRC investigations. NoPalaver Group believes that the additional yield of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) is down to HMRC forcing “construction companies to justify their workers’ self-employed status”. NoPalaver says: “This has caused problems for many construction companies, as they frequently lack the paperwork to prove that their workers are genuinely self-employed.” More...
Stevens v Northolt High School AWR ruling results in 10k equal pay to locum teacher
The Stevens v Northolt High School Employment Tribunal (ET) ruling (ET/3300621/2014) confirms that contractor clients could be the ones paying out if a contractor wins an equal pay claim under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR). Locum music teacher Georgia Stevens was awarded a £10,000 payout from former client, Northolt High School, as a result of being underpaid by £98 for 111 days. The agency avoided liability because it had taken ‘reasonable steps’ to find out the equivalent pay of a permanent employee in the same role. More...
Leaving contractors and clients outside of new false self-employment rules a mistake, says REC
Leaving contractors and their end-user clients untouched by the changes proposed to NIC rules aimed to restrict false self-employment, and letting the agency become totally accountable is a mistake, REC CEO Kevin Green has told MPs. After giving evidence to the Commons Public Bill Committee currently reading the latest National Insurance Contributions Bill, Green told the Recruiter that the legislation “will not effectively tackle false self-employment and might actually make it worse”. He urged the committee to delay the bill, due to be backdated to April 2014, so the recruitment industry had enough time to implement the new measures. More...
Contractors to be offered new cloud-based small business accounting service by KPMG
Contractors may soon be able to secure the accounting services of KPMG, as the global auditor and consultancy enters the online contractor accountancy arena. According to Accountancy Age’s Richard Crump: “KPMG Enterprise is KPMG’s new small business accounting service which uses a new digital technology platform to provide online accounting and tax services - including accounts preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and corporate tax returns - to small and start up enterprises via the cloud.” The cost of the service starts at £150 per month, which is the mid- to top-end of the existing online contractor accountancy market. More...
Umbrella company research will shed greater light on contractor numbers
New umbrella company and umbrella contractor research planned by the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association is expected to “establish the size and value of the professional umbrella employment sector and the number of flexible workforce employed through it”. Chief Executive Julia Kermode notes: “We know from our various lobbying activities that Government and policymakers do not fully appreciate the economic value of our sector. Credible data is needed to demonstrate this. Nothing suitable currently exists, so we decided to commission independent research.We will use the results to directly influence decision-makers.”
Contractors using tax avoidance schemes facing Accelerated Payment demands
Contractor who use, or who have used, tax avoidance schemes are facing 2,500 Accelerated Payment Notices per month from HMRC. The notices are part of HMRC’s wider, and according to many commentators draconian, tax avoidance powers granted this year. They enable the taxman to demand tax up front for tax avoidance schemes that it plans to challenge. 43,000 tax avoidance scheme users, including many contractors, are expected to receive the notices demanding £7.1bn of disputed tax. More...
Oil and gas contractors facing new round of rate cuts, but should keep their nerve
Oil and gas contractors in the UK are facing a new round of rate cuts, but a recruiter urges contractors to keep their nerve and wait them out. Frontier International’s Paul Radcliffe writes in Energy Voice that the pressure on international oil companies to cut the costs of their North Sea operations is driving down rates. However, he urges contractors to weather the costs, because skills shortages are likely to drive rates back up, particularly if some workers do take the short-term view and leave the UK for oil and gas provinces offering better pay. More...
Supply chain contractors could benefit from 500k new contracts and jobs, says CBI
Contractors working for clients across the UK’s could benefit from an additional 500,000 new contracts and jobs by 2025 according to a new report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). “Pulling Togetherrecommends ways to kick start the UK’s supply chains, and solutions to reinvigorate Britain’s industrial strategy,” says the CBI, noting that its report identifies “underinvestment in research and development (R&D), a growing skills crisis and weakened foundation industries that are key to advanced manufacturing”. Highly skilled contractors will have a key role to play to reinvigorate the UK’s supply chain industries, and could benefit from the tax incentives proposed by the CBI to encourage investment. More...