New Contractors’ Handbook “takes contracting support to the next level”
Contractors will find a wealth of solutions on how to start and maintain a successful and profitable contracting career in the new second edition of the Contractors’ Handbook. Substantially revised, updated and expanded, the new book by ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin includes the latest IR35 guidance, a new chapter on the Agency Workers Regulations and detailed advice on finding and securing contracts. “Tens of thousands of contractors used the first edition to successfully bridge the gap between employment and contracting, while veterans used it to hone the skills required to win the best and highest-paid contracts. The second edition takes contracting support to the next level,” says Chaplin. More…
IT contract market in Scotland continues to outperform the rest of the UK
Contractors in Scotland are enjoying a surge in demand, with IT contractors first in the demand league table for May, outperforming the rest of the UK. The Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs results for IT are in contrast to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs which shows UK-wide demand for IT contractors slumping during the month. Hotspots of contracting activity included Aberdeen (oil and gas), Edinburgh (financial sector) and Dundee (gaming and software). However, engineers fared less well, falling to sixth place in the demand league table. More…
Interim management contractors to fill public sector skills gaps
Contractors will play an even greater role in ensuring the smooth delivery of public services, as public sector clients find recruiting top talent ever more challenging. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)/Hays Resourcing and Talent Planning survey, public sector employers are struggling to recruit and retain senior staff. “Now more than ever, [public sector organisations] require talented and experienced individuals at senior levels of the organisation to help steer them through times of change,” explains CIPD Research Adviser Rebecca Clarke. But the off-payroll rules will only turn away many of the best interims, increasing the scope of the challenge facing public sector clients. More…
Interim management contractors will become “collateral damage” of new rules
Interim management contractors will become “collateral damage” of the government’s new ‘controlling persons’ rules currently out for consultation. This is according to recruiter body Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), whose chief executive Ann Swain has branded the government’s assumptions behind the rules as “bizarre”. Swain’s concern is that the assumption that contractors in leadership roles are employees is flawed and that, with IR35 already in place to tackle the issues of disguised employment, further legislation is unnecessary. More…
Potential tax breaks for IT and media contractors
Contractors working in the IT and media sectors look set to benefit from a raft of new tax relief measures following publication of a new consultation by the Treasury. Its Consultation on creative sector tax reliefs sees the Treasury proposing to introduce tax breaks for companies investing in animation, high-end television and video games. There is the potential for contractors growing their contracting business to benefit directly. But the major upside for contractors could be a surge of new contracts from clients making major UK investment into new movies, programmes and video games. More…
UK self-employment reaches new record as more workers choose contracting
Self-employment in the UK has reached 4.171m, the highest number on record, in the period between February and April 2012. Over 84,000 new businesses started in the period. Of those, 27,000 represented full-time self-employment based businesses, including new contractor and freelance companies. Over the same period the headline unemployment rate fell by 0.2% and over 200,000 new jobs were created in the private sector. Public sector employment fell by 39,000 to reach 5.9m, the lowest level since March 2003. More…
Contractors receive mixed messages from London-based clients
London-based contracting clients remain optimistic, but this optimism is not translating into new contracts for contractors. In fact, the latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI)/KPMG London Business Survey shows that contracting clients in London are cancelling hiring plans and a quarter are freezing or cutting investment into IT and infrastructure. CBI London region director Sara Parker identifies the eurozone crisis as the source of falling investment: “In this milestone year for London, it’s great to see that the capital’s firms are more optimistic than six months ago. Increased eurozone anxiety means employers are reluctant to invest, take on new people or expand their businesses.” More…
New PAYE guidance for salaried contractors
Contractors trading via umbrella companies, their agency’s payroll or those within IR35 paying themselves a salary can access new guidance from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) on Pay As You Earn (PAYE) calculations. “In the middle of May, HMRC started sending out the first PAYE calculations for 2011-12, some of which will now have hit taxpayers’ doormats and could be causing concern,” says the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). “Anyone who receives one, be it a refund or a notification that HMRC believe extra tax is owed, should be proactive in checking it,” it adds, and directs contractors towards the LITRG’s new online guide.
HMRC’s structure and pay grades revealed
Contractors can gain insights into how HMRC is structured and the pay grades of its staff and top managers following publication of HMRC’s organisation charts and supporting datasets. The data reveals that salaries within the organisation range from £14,815 for an administration assistant to up to £184,999 for top managers. But, unlike most other central government departments, HMRC has yet to publish details of the limited company contractors it uses and who are likely to be affected by the government’s new off-payroll rules. More…