IT contractors with non-NHS backgrounds increasingly being hired by NHS
IT contractors with commercial and non-NHS public sector backgrounds now account for 50% of new IT contract staff hiring in the health service. According to data released by specialist NHS IT contractor agency max20, these levels of hiring are up from only a handful of IT contractors without NHS experience being hired a year ago. “The NHS is becoming more commercialised as a result of the changes introduced by the government in April 2013,” max20 MD Don Tomlinson told ContractorCalculator. “The result has been both an increased demand for IT professionals and for expertise and skills from outside the NHS.” More...
Oil and gas contractor prospects remain positive, says new report
The future for oil and gas contractors looks positive for “decades to come”, according to the latest Economic Report from Oil & Gas UK. The offshore industry body’s chief executive Malcolm Webb says a refocus of government policy “has given investors the confidence to develop new fields and redevelop older fields, so we are now seeing the highest-ever investment”. The results are thousands of new contracts and jobs across the UK. ContractorCalculator’s analysis of the report and its implications for contractors will be published on Tuesday 27 August.
Contractors targeting manufacturing clients to benefit from accelerating growth
Contractors working in the manufacturing sector can expect an increasing stream of new contracts and contract renewals in the coming months. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) latest Industrial Trends Survey points to “significant rises in production” over the last quarter and forecasts growth will continue. “Manufacturers have seen a real upturn in fortunes this quarter, as output grew at its fastest pace for two years,” notes CBI director of economics Stephen Gifford. “Domestic and export orders have rebounded almost across the board, and manufacturers expect this strength to continue during the next three months.” More...
IT contractors tipped off on hot new technology trends from Gartner
IT contractors seeking to stay at the cutting edge of technology and win more contracts should be focusing on the “evolving relationship between humans and machines”. This is one conclusion from technology analyst Gartner’s 2013 Hype Cycle, in which it monitors emerging technologies. Specifically, IT contractors should be doing their homework on “augmenting humans with technology”, “machines replacing humans” and “humans and machines working alongside each other”. More...
New contracts and renewals set to increase with improving business investment
New contracts and contract renewals are likely to increase following signs of improving business confidence and investment, as postponed and cancelled projects are given new leases of life. More good news has come from the CBI, this time in its economic growth forecasts, which have been raised for 2013 and 2014 to 1.2% and 2.3% respectively. “Business investment and exports are forecast to strengthen as the global economy picks up and the eurozone returns to growth, confidence rises, and credit conditions continue to improve,” says the report. A strengthening of the UK’s contract market will be one of many positive results. More...
Contractor skills shortages emerging in Scotland
Contractor skills shortages are emerging across the board in Scotland’s contracting and temporary workforce sector, shows July’s Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs. A combination of rising demand, increasing rates, falling contractor availability and reduced growth of agency billings indicate that there are not enough contractors with the right skills available to fill every assignment. All core contracting disciplines except for the executive and professional sector showed an increase in demand during July. More...
Contractor umbrellas and intermediaries should be subject to new laws, say recruiters
Contractor umbrella companies and other intermediaries should be covered by the government’s new regulatory framework to update the conduct regulations. This is according to a poll of recruiters taking part in a recent Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) webinar to discuss the government’s review of the regulations. REC director of policy and professional services Tom Hadley said: “Our members are very clear that their two big concerns about the government’s plans for reform are that any enforcement regime must be genuinely effective and that new legislation should reflect the role played by umbrellas and other intermediaries.”
Engineering, IT and construction top the jobs opportunities league table, and mobile job applications soar
Engineering, IT and construction contractors benefitted from a surge in contract and job opportunities during July 2013. CVLibrary’s Job Market Report – July 2013 shows these three core contracting disciplines to be leading the top five industries, alongside sales and education. The report also shows that contractors are turning to their phones to apply for jobs. Applications submitted by smartphones soared by 453.4% between the second quarter of 2012 and the same period in 2013. More...
Umbrella company contractors may foot the bill for the offshore umbrella crackdown
Umbrella company contractors may end up footing the bill for proposed legislation designed to tackle tax avoiding offshore umbrella companies. Parasol managing director Derek Kelly highlights that due to the government’s current proposals, the costs for umbrella companies to comply with agency requirement will soar. These costs are likely to be passed onto contractors. “The legislation doesn’t set out one single, approved means by which we can prove to our agency partners that Parasol is based onshore and pays all relevant PAYE tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs),” says Kelly. More...
Prospects for contractors with eurozone clients take positive turn
The prospects for contractors with eurozone clients, or who are seeking contracts in the region, have taken a positive turn following encouraging economic data from the currency union. The Markit Flash Eurozone Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for August 2013 stays in growth territory at a 26-month high, the largest monthly increase in business activity for two years. Both the manufacturing and services sectors enjoyed growth, and there is evidence that growth has finally arrived in the ‘periphery’ countries outside of Germany, France, Italy and Spain. More...